National Bank of Belgium

Statistics department

- Financial accounts

- National accounts 

de Berlaimontlaan 15,

1000 Brussels

The different domains relevant for external sector statistics (Balance of Payments -BOP, International Investment Position - IIP, Foreign Direct Investment - FDI, and International Trade in Services - ITS) sent to Eurostat are based on the BOP Vademecum reflecting requirements laid down in the Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 on Community statistics concerning BOP, ITS, and FDI, as amended by the Commission Regulation (EU) No 555/2012 of 22 June 2012 and Regulation (EU) No 2016/1013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016.

These datasets are broadly in line with the sixth edition of the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment (BD4) and the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in services 2010 (MSITS 2010).

Monthly and quarterly BOP summarize transactions between residents and nonresidents during a specific period. BOP data consist of the goods and services account, the primary income account, the secondary income account, the capital account, and the functional categories of the financial account (direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives and employee stock options, other investment and reserve assets). Differences between the current and capital account on the one hand and the financial account on the other hand are visible under Net errors and omissions that result from imperfections in source data, inconsistent reporting by enterprises and compilation issues. 

Quarterly IIP shows for a country all financial claims on nonresidents and a country’s liabilities to nonresidents at a certain point in time. The breakdown follows the functional categories of the financial account (direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives (other than reserve assets) and employee stock options, other investment, and reserve assets). The sign of the balance shows whether the domestic economic sectors have a net creditor or net debtor position vis-à-vis other countries. The other changes in financial assets and liabilities accounts (revaluations due to exchange rate, revaluations due to other price changes and other changes in the volume) reconcile the balance of payments and IIP for a specific period, by showing changes due to economic events other than transactions between residents and nonresidents.

Annual FDI statistics (consisting of financial account transactions, current account primary income figures and IIP position data) is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy (direct investor) having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy (direct investment enterprise). By convention, such a lasting interest exists when a direct investor owns 10% or more of the voting power or the equivalent (for an unincorporated enterprise). Operational definitions of control and influence are explained in BPM6 § 6.12. Furthermore, the definition of direct investment is the same as in the fourth edition of the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment.

Annual ITS statistics record services transactions between residents and non-residents and cover the following categories: manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others; Maintenance and repair services, not included elsewhere; transport; travel; construction; insurance and pension services; financial services; charges for the use of intellectual property, not included elsewhere; telecommunication, computer and information services; other business services; personal, cultural and recreational services; and government goods and services, not included elsewhere. The services categories are listed in the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification (EBOPS 2010).

Classification used for the BOP, IIP, FDI and ITS statistics are in broad conformity with guidelines outlined in the relevant manual (e.g., BPM6, BD4).

Nonfinancial transactions in the BOP are generally grouped according to their nature and characteristics. Produced assets are covered in the goods and services account. Primary income captures returns for the provision of labour and financial assets and for renting of natural resources. Secondary income captures further redistribution of income through current transfers, such as by governments, private households or charitable organization in cash or in kind. The capital account is split into gross acquisitions and disposals of nonproduced nonfinancial assets and other capital transfers.

Positions and flows of financial assets and liabilities are primarily grouped according to the BPM6 functional categories. Five functional categories of investment are distinguished: (a) direct investment, (b) portfolio investment, (c) financial derivatives (other than reserves) and employee stock options, (d) other investment, and (e) reserve assets. These functional categories reflect on economic motivations and patterns of behaviour. Positions, the associated income and financial account transactions, and other changes are based on three broad categories of financial assets and liabilities: (1) equity and investment fund shares, (2) debt instruments, and (3) other financial assets and liabilities.

Annual FDI flows are classified according to the directional principle, that is grouping the FDI transactions according to the status of the resident entity; 1) FDI abroad, if the resident entity is the direct investor or, in the case of transactions between fellows companies, if the “Ultimate Controlling Parent (UCP)” is also located in the compiling economy,  2) FDI in the reporting economy, if the resident entity is the direct investment enterprise or, in the case of transactions between fellows companies, if the “Ultimate Controlling Parent (UCP)” is not located in the compiling economy. In the directional presentation, reverse investment can be seen as equivalent to the withdrawal of investment. The instrument classification differentiates between equity (other than reinvestment of earnings), reinvestment of earnings and debt instruments.

Annual FDI income shows amounts payable and receivable between resident and non-resident entities in return for providing financial direct investment assets to the rest of the world, or incurring direct investment liabilities vis-à-vis the rest of the world. The instrument classification differentiates between dividends, reinvested earnings, and income on debt.

FDI positions are also classified according to the directional principle, split into net FDI positions abroad and net FDI positions in the reporting economy. The instrument classification differentiates between equity (including reinvested earnings) and debt instruments.

For all FDI statistics, the geographical allocation is made according to the economic residence of the immediate direct investor or immediate direct investment enterprise, and the recommended classification by activity is that of the direct investment enterprise (to avoid asymmetry issues).  The industrial activity level is based on ISIC4/NACE Rev.2.

International Trade in Services data are presented in line with the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification (EBOPS 2010).

Known deviations:

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 (ESA2010) (par. 5.119) and the BPM6 Manual (par. 5.42) provide that funds between deposit-taking corporations are always recorded as deposits. Concerning deposit/loans liabilities of deposit-taking corporations to other counterparts, BPM6 foresees the additional convention that these are to be recorded as deposits, irrespective of the maturity, while ESA 2010 restricts this to short-term funds. Concerning deposit/loans assets of deposit-taking corporations vis-à-vis other counterparts BPM6 foresees the additional convention that these are to be recorded as loans, while ESA 2010 (in § 5.118) makes a similar reference for short-term loans.

Specifically for euro area: The definition of reserve assets is in line with BPM6 guidelines. However, as a member of the euro area, the definition of monetary reserves in a MS’s BOP includes (inter alia) only those liquid claims denominated in foreign currency that the MS’s central bank holds on non-euro area residents. Claims on residents of other euro area countries, regardless of the currency, are part of other external assets.

Institutional units are grouped into institutional sectors according to similar economic objectives, functions, and behaviour.

The sector classifications based on the BOP Vademecum are:

Central bank (S.121); Monetary Financial Institutions (MFI) other than central bank (S.122) (incl. Deposit-taking corporations except the central bank; Money Market Funds (S.123)); General government (S.13); and Other sectors.

The Other Sectors consist of Financial Corporations other than MFIs (S.12); Non-Financial Corporations (S.11); Households (S.14); and Non-profit institutions serving households (S.15).

Exception to BPM6:

A deviation from the BPM6 sector classification is that Money Market Funds are part of Other sectors (in BPM6) whereas they are part of the MFI sector for European Statistics according to the Vademecum.

The overall conceptual framework of BOP, IIP, FDI and ITS are in broad conformity with the most recent manuals as well as the EC Guidelines and Eurostat’s Vademecum.

Statistical concepts and definitions relate to basic internationally accepted standards and guidelines for external sector statistics; for instance:

• All resident-nonresident transactions covered;
• The concept of residency adhered to;
• For the BOP, the concept of gross reporting is followed for the current and capital account; and the net basis for financial account transactions (separately for the individual asset and liability components);
• The change of economic ownership principle soundly applied;
• FDI is defined as equity ownership representing 10 percent or more of the voting power;
• The accrual basis is broadly applied;
• Market values or appropriate substitute measures are used;
• the residence of Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) is attributed to the economy in which they are legally domiciled or incorporated;
• Overall, the classification, netting and ordering in the IIP is consistent with BPM6; current, capital, and financial accounts of the balance of payments statement are defined according to the BPM6.

Known Deviation (Source: Vademecum):

BOP/IIP data are to be compiled following the debtor/creditor approach, instead of the “transactor” approach. In other words, the geographical allocation of assets/credits is to be done on the basis of the residency of the issuer/debtor and not of the “transactor”. This is particularly relevant for portfolio and direct investment functional categories, which record tradable instruments. This approach is to be followed consistently in the geographical and sector allocation of investment income, financial transactions and stocks.

Institutional units are defined in conformity with BPM6 and relate to those that have a predominant centre of economic interest in the country. In principle, any individual, corporation or other institution that provides information on the transactions/positions between the residents and non-residents of a country during a given period is included. Resident institutional units engaged with nonresidents also cover in principle:

-       incorporated or unincorporated affiliates of nonresident companies; and SPEs with little or no physical presence;

-       resident territorial enclaves in the rest of the world (e.g., embassies, military basis);

-       free zones/bonded warehouses/factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control;

-       Citizens who work or live temporarily in another country (seasonal and cross border commuters, students and patients).

The BOP and IIP statistical population consists of all residents that transact with non-residents.

The reference area describes the geographical area covered by the data disseminated. According to the BOP Vademecum, the reference area is the economic territory, country, or region for which external sector statistics are provided. The country code list follows the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 classification and is a "cross-domain" code list, used also in National Accounts. The codes used for various regional groupings are harmonized across international agencies that use the BOP-DSD.

The reference area is the economic territory of Belgium

The complete Belgian BOP according to BPM6 methodology is available as of the first quarter of 2008. The IIP is available as of the last quarter of 2008.

Less detailed back data were produced for the purpose of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP); the major BOP aggregates are available from 2003 onwards. The goods and services aggregates are available from 2000 onwards.

Until reference period 2012, BPM6 back data were derived from existing BPM5 components, complemented with additional detail when available, without using the BPM6 compilation system. Since reference period 2013, the surveys were adapted and detailed input data are directly derived from raw survey data.

Not applicable.

All data sent to Eurostat are in Millions of Euro for Euro Area countries and in Millions of National currency for non-Euro Area countries. The unit of dissemination is Euro.

The monthly (MBOP), quarterly (QBOP) BOP, and quarterly FDI transactions summarize economic transactions between residents and nonresidents during the respective reference period.  The annual ITS dataset summarizes services transactions over the period of one year.

The quarterly IIP statement as well as the annual FDI stock statistics refer to a point in time at the end of the reference period; i.e., the last day of a quarter or year, respectively. The other changes in financial assets and liabilities of the IIP statement (revaluations due to exchange rate, revaluations due to other price changes and other changes in the volume) reconcile the BOP and IIP during a specific period.

Institutional Mandate – national level

The balance of payments statistics and the international investment position statistics are collected, compiled and disseminated by the National Bank of Belgium under a specific law, dated 28 February 2002. This law has been amended in May 2006, in the scope of a comprehensive reform of the Belgian collection, compilation and dissemination system in external statistics, linked to international developments. The new provisions provide for the recourse to data collection surveys. Further implementation measures have been enacted by a Royal Decree dated 7 February 2007. Under this Royal Decree, the National Bank of Belgium is entitled to determine specific regulations, which have to be enacted by ministerial order. 

Institutional Mandate – European level

• Regulation no 184/2005 of The European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment,
• Commission Regulation (EC) No 601/2006,
• Commission Regulation (EC) No 602/2006,
• Commission Regulation (EC) No 707/2009,
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 555/2012,
• Regulation (EU) 2016/1013
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/505 of 19 December 2018
• Quality reports for the BoP domain are prepared in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 1227/2010 of 20 December 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 (OJ No L 283/3).

The National Bank of Belgium transmits data collected under the Belgian balance of payments Act of 28 February 2002 to the National Statistical Institute (Statbel), which is a member of the European Statistical System. This transmission is, from a legal point of view, allowed under Article 8.a of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank. This Article, which is directly applicable in Belgian law as part of the aforementioned European regulation, allows members of the ESCB to transmit confidential statistical data of the ESCB to ESS members “provided that this transmission is necessary for the efficient development, production or dissemination, or for increasing the quality, of European statistics”. The balance of payments data are such data. Between the National Bank of Belgium and Statbel, SLA’s are in place regarding the exchange of statistical data. These agreements formalize the arrangements regarding such things as the use of the data by the receiving party, the communication channel used for the exchange, the confidentiality of the data and the security measures that should be applied.

The law of 28 February 2002 regulates the confidentiality regime of the data and guarantees that the statistics disseminated will not enable the direct or indirect identification of data for any individual person or legal entity. Further, the collected information cannot be used for any other purposes than the compilation of the BoP, IIP and the by the law defined related statistics. Nevertheless, these data may also be used by the National Bank of Belgium in the compilation process of other macroeconomic statistics it produces by law and may be transmitted under restrictive conditions to the supervisory authorities. Finally the statistical information collected in the scope of BoP or IIP cannot be used for taxation purposes. Nevertheless, statistical information may be used for anti-money laundering purposes.

BOP Vademecum (2021): Chapter V “Statistical confidentiality” of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics regulates protection and transmissions of confidential data within ESS and ESCB. Confidentiality status attribute is mandatory in BOP and FDI DSDs and thus each observation has to be flagged with a confidentiality status.

When the information is already released and disseminated by the national compiler (e.g. it is published on the national compiler's website) applying confidentiality status attributes such as C "Primary confidential statistical information", D “secondary confidentiality set and managed by the national compiler” or N "Not for publication, restricted for internal use only" is not justified.

Primary confidentiality rules applied on Belgian data: 

• number of reporting units less than 3
• dominance of one unit in data cell larger or equal to 80%

Quality issues should be much less frequent for quarterly BOP and IIP data. The confidentiality status attribute "Not for publication, restricted for internal use only" - N flag – shall be used conservatively and rather in cases of more detailed breakdowns (e.g. geographical, instrument or sector breakdown). Using confidentiality status (C or D or N flags) to suppress publication of data with insufficient quality should be avoided. Observation status with U flag (low reliability) should be used instead. This would indicate existing observations and, at the same time, users will be aware of the low quality assigned.

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 1.1.2.The analysis in this section focuses on the availability of the data to the users. The tables present the number of cells flagged as confidential and non - publishable, compared with the total number of cells that have to be provided according to the BOP Regulation.

For FDI flows and income large multinationals cause a higher percentage of confidentiality flags.

The high number of confidential cells in ITS is due to the detailled level of geographical counterpart combined with the detailed EBOPS category breakdown.

Eurostat release calendar can be found under http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/news/release-calendar

The national release calender is publicly available on the website of the National bank of Belgium.

The national release calendar can be found under https://www.nbb.be/en/statistics/general/calendar 

The balance of payments data and international investment position statistics are published on the statistical website of the National Bank of Belgium (https://stat.nbb.be) and are included in the quarterly Statistical Bulletins (https://www.nbb.be/en/statistics/general/statistical-publications).

Eurostat Website:

BOP: monthly and quarterly

FDI flows and stocks: annually

IIP: quarterly and annually        

ITS: annually

National Website:

BOP: quarterly (monthly detail)

FDI flows and stocks: quarterly

IIP : quarterly

ITS: annually

The quarterly publications of the BOP and IIP are accompanied by a press release (https://www.nbb.be/doc/dq/e/dq3/eef.pdf)  and an infographic (Infographics | nbb.be).

BOP and IIP data are published on the statistical website of the National Bank of Belgium (https://stat.nbb.be) and are included in the quarterly Statistical Bulletins (https://www.nbb.be/en/statistics/general/statistical-publications).

At Eurostat, the database for external sector statistics gives access to the following statistics:

• Monthly and quarterly BOP and quarterly IIP statistics;
• Annual data on ITS;
• Annual data on FDI positions, transactions and income;
• Detailed data on international transactions involving the European institutions.

Harmonized data is available for the European Union, the euro area, the EU Member States, the United Kingdom, EFTA countries, candidate and potential candidate countries.

 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/balance-of-payments/data/database

National Bank of Belgium online statistical database: https://stat.nbb.be/

National data

Unique consultations during 12 month period:

National available data

• Monthly BOP data
• Quarterly BOP data
• Quarterly IIP data (quarterly revaluations data only available in press release)
• FDI data
• ITS data

No microdata is disseminated. Researchers within the National Bank of Belgium have access to microdata. They are bound to the same confidentiality rules as the statisticians (Article 35 of the organic charter of the National Bank of Belgium).

All users have equal access to the disseminated data. In case of questions, users can contact bop@nbb.be.

BOP/IIP data is used as an input for national accounts.

Not available.

Information about the sources and methodology used for the Belgian BoP and IIP is available in the ECB BoP book (updated in 2016) : European Union Balance of Payments and International Investment Position statistical sources and methods, November 2016 (europa.eu)

Metadata SDDS+ BOP: SDDS - DQAF View : Belgium - Balance of payments (imf.org)

Metadata SDDS+ IIP: SDDS - DQAF View : Belgium - International investment position (imf.org)

Methodology BOP and FDI: Methodology | nbb.be 

Notes on the BPM6 implementation: bop_iip_bpm6_en.pdf (nbb.be)

Notes on the current account revision 2017: Note/Nota Direction/Directie (nbb.be)

Notes on the methodological changes IIP 2017: iip201709_e.pdf (nbb.be)

Notes on the methodological changes 2019: bop300919_e.pdf (nbb.be)

BOP for non-specialists: bop_non-technical_en.pdf (nbb.be)

Not applicable.

Standardised quality report MIP level 3: Microsoft Word - MIP_Standardized quality report_MIP_level 3.docx (nbb.be)

ECB: Euro area and national balance of payments and international investment position statistics quality report: Balance of payments and international investment position (europa.eu)

ESTAT: Quality report on balance of payments, international investment position, international trade in services and foreign direct investment statistics: Product - Products Statistical reports - Eurostat (europa.eu)

This indicator refers to the quality assurance framework (QAF) in place within an organisation to manage the quality of statistical products and processes.

Quality checks are applied at both disaggregated and aggregated level. Data are checked at the level of the data collection tool for syntax (codification), consistency and completeness. Further controls consist, inter alia, in performing cross-checks with other data sources as VAT declarations and plausibility checks. In the monthly production process, top-down quality controls are carried out. In the quarterly and yearly production cycle, bottom-up procedures are applied. Consistency checks between flows and stock data are also performed.

Specific tools are developed to identify abnormal values/profiles and to monitor further investigation. Similar procedures are applied to the aggregates. Comparisons are made with other statistics and consistency analyses are performed.

This indicator refers to the Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 7 and 8: Overall Assessment.

Belgium achieves good and excellent results on most items. 

National Accounts and BOP are aligned on an annual basis. We are currently working on the alignments between QNA and QBOP. 

Large assymmetries will be addressed via the FDI and ITS ARM framework.

To guarantee the quality of results, European statistics shall be developed, produced and disseminated on the basis of uniform standards and of harmonised methods. In this respect, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council quality criteria (a) ‘relevance’ refers to the degree to which statistics meet current and potential needs of the users. Meeting the requirements of the EC Regulation on community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment confirms relevance for the user “Eurostat” as recipient of the data sets on behalf of its user community.

Furthermore, relevance is also indirectly accomplished by countries participating in domain specific committees and working groups as well as the worldwide update of the manuals whose aim it is to keep the standards and statistics as relevant as possible going forward.

Internal users: national accounts, financial accounts, research department

External users: academia, policymakers, international organisations, journalists, federations 

Not available.

This section refers to the current Eurostat Quality Report 1.1.1. Data availability- completeness.

Data completeness – the provided cells expressed as % of required cells refers to the completeness of BOP, IIP, FDI and ITS data provided to Eurostat based on the requirements of the BOP Regulation.

Accuracy of data is the closeness of computations or estimates to the exact or true values that the statistics were intended to measure.

Accuracy is being measured using three concepts: Reliability; Vintage Analysis; and Plausibility. See 13.1.

This section refers to the current Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 2.  

(i) Accuracy can be measured using the concept of Reliability - defined as the closeness of the initial estimated value to the subsequent estimated value. This section refers to the current Eurostat Quality Report 2.1.1. Quantitative assessment of revisions. Complementary information on Revisions are also provided under S17 Data Revision.

The quantitative analysis focuses on the size of revisions, their direction and the reliability of trends using the data provided by countries to Eurostat.

For the Monthly BOP, Quarterly BOP and Quarterly IIP items, revisions are assessed using two types of indicators both of which are based on the comparison between first and last assessments:

- Directional stability indicators measure how often the first assessment is subsequently revised in the same direction (the upward revisions ratio and the directional reliability indicator).

- Relative size indicators measure the difference between the first and the last assessments. These absolute differences may be quantified relative to the underlying series (when strictly positive) or to the underlying outstanding amounts. These indicators are the symmetric mean absolute percentage ratio, mean absolute comparative ratio and for net/balance series the net relative revisions.

(ii) Accuracy can be measured using the concept of Vintage Analysis. This section refers to the current Eurostat Quality Report 2.1.2 Vintage Analysis. For the assessment of annual data (ITSS, credit and debit, FDI flows and positions, inward and outward), the analysis focuses on the differences between the values as reported in the last 4 data deliveries to Eurostat. The counterpart area is Extra EU27 and Rest of the World.

(iii) Accuracy can be measured using the concept of Plausibility – referring to the absence of unexplained changes. This section refers to the current Eurostat Quality Report 2.2. Plausibility. This concept calculates the share of unallocated partner or activity from total (%) for ITS, FDI flows and positions.

Accuracy of Belgian data

A harmonized treatment of important multinationals has been integrated in the current account of the balance of payments (input from the LCU unit), with higher revisions as a consequence.

The services account is systematically revised upwards. This is mainly due to the high nonresponse rate when compiling the first version of a specific month.

Revision for secondary income and capital account are due to the yearly alignment exercise with the national accounts.The higher revision rate of direct investment is due to the absence of estimations for late and non-response. This is also the case for other investment. Moreover, other investment also relies on data sources that are available with a delay of a couple of months. The higher upward revision rate of portfolio assets relates to the inclusion of third party holdings.

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

 Undercoverage and unrecorded activity:

• There is no direct data collection from resident households. Data on the assets of households held abroad are estimated with some delay by using mirror data, notably the Bank of International Settlements statistics on the liabilities of non-resident banks vis-à-vis Belgian residents.
• FDI income: accrued interest is neither included nor estimated
• Registration of financial lease: presently no registration is made in the BOP financial account for the transactions related to the lump sum of a financial lease contract representative of the underlying capital of the contract; only a proxy is computed on the basis of the registered flows related to financial leasing.
• Regarding real estate the liability side is based on administrative data, but the asset side is based on a model.
• No recording of reverse equity investments and equity links between fellows. However, this will be included in the FDI surveys in 2021/2022.
• Recording in clean price: debt securities are recorded in clean price. BPM6 advises that accrued interest be included in the valuation of debt securities, which corresponds to the concept of dirty price. Accrued interest is neither included nor estimated.

There are no indications of over-coverage.

Not applicable. 

Coverage and response rate are monitored, but do not directly guide planning. Sample surveys are updated on an annual basis, ensuring coverage. Administrative records are assessed on an ad-hoc basis.

When administrative data is available, intermediate results are validated against them. This is mainly on an annual frequency (goods and services on a monthly frequency)

BoP and IIP statistics rely mostly on actual collected data (monthly, quarterly, yearly),
supplemented with statistical processes for non-response or late response and grossingup
processes for non-surveyed companies. The ECB's "B.o.p. and i.i.p. book" of November 2016 provides a detailled overview of the non response rates

• International Trade in Goods Statistics (ITGS) are the main data source for the BOP's goods account. ITGS are collected and compiled by the Belgian National Accounts Institute (NAI). In practice, the National Bank of Belgium performs this task as an associated institution to the NAI. In ITGS, in accordance with the Commission regulations (EU) No 222/2009 of 11 March 2009 and No 1093/2013 of 4 November 2013, the coverage rate for intra-EU exports is 97% and the coverage rate for intra-EU imports is 93%. Extrapolations are based on VAT data. Missing data is estimated on individual basis, based on previous reporting. Customs declarations are the main source for the valuation of extra EU-trade. These are exhaustive.
• The services account is based on a mixture of exhaustive and sampling surveys. Estimations for non response are based on the weight of the missing enterprise in the sample. Extrapolation and nonresponse estimations are performed by an in-house developed statistical tool. For certain specific services, surveys are supplemented with other data sources.
• Investment income is partly collected and partly calculated. Nonresponse is estimated on individual basis, taking into account the market capitalisation.
• Direct investment data are collected using a set of integrated surveys. Late reporting and nonresponse are not estimated
• Financial derivative data are collected via surveys. Late reporting and nonresponse are not estimated.
• Data on other investment are collected via specific surveys and via mirror data. Data on trade credits are collected through a specific monthly survey. The sample is drawn from the frame population of ITGS and is updated annualy. The survey is stratified by type of trader (Intra-EU, extra-EU and a mixture of both) and by size. Each stratum has a threshold above which the data collection is exhaustive. Beneath the threshold, the number of selected respondents is determined by the “Neyman allocation”, with a minimum of ten respondents per stratum. Auxiliary variables (ITGS) are available for extrapolation. Trade credit nonresponse is estimated.

Not available. 

Not available. 

Not available. 

Not available. 

According to the provisions of the Commission Regulation (EU) No 184/2005 and ECB Guideline ECB/2011/23 datasets are reported by countries to Eurostat with the following timeliness:

The BOP regulation defines the timeliness and sets the deadlines for the data transmission to Eurostat as follows:

-      Monthly BOP: 44 days after the end of the reference period;

-      Quarterly BOP, quarterly IIP and quarterly revaluations: 82/85 days after the end of the reference period;

-      ITS: 9 months after the end of the reference period;

-      FDI: 9 months after the end of the reference period (21 months for the activity breakdown).

National website

Data is published as follows:

• Quarterly balance of payments (including monthly breakdown), quarterly international investment position and FDI: 3 months after the end of the reference period;
• ITS: 9 months after the end of the reference period;

The revision process is carried out at a monthly, a quarterly and an annual frequency. The revision of a year or a quarter involves the revision of every month concerned. Data (monthly and quarterly) become final 33 months after the end of the reference year.

All data are transmitted ahead or on the day of the deadline.

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report 3.1 Punctuality.

Punctuality is calculated as the actual date of data delivery minus the scheduled date of transmission to Eurostat. It shows how many calendar days this was behind (positive value) or ahead of (negative value) the legal deadline.

Coherence refers to the adequacy of the data to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses.

In the Eurostat Quality Report, the analysis of coherence focuses on two aspects: internal consistency, that examines to which extent data are coherent within the dataset, and external consistency, that examines to which extent data are coherent with others statistics (e.g., NA) obtained by different sources or within different statistical frameworks.

Comparability refers to the measurement of the impact of differences in applied statistical concepts and methodologies, measurement tools and procedures applied, when statistics are compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains (e.g., with QSA, ITGS data) or over time. 

This indicator refers to Chapter 5.3.1 and the corresponding tables of the Eurostat Quality Report: Asymmetries with regard to main ITS and FDI items.

Further information and country-specific feedback is provided below. 

This section refers to the current Eurostat Quality Report 5.3.1. Bilateral Intra-EU asymmetries are presented in Annex 3 to the Eurostat Quality report.

Asymmetries are the result of differences in measurement, in the procedures applied and in the interpretation of statistical concepts. Thus, asymmetries can be regarded as a measure of comparability.

National compilers are encouraged to perform regular checks of their FDI transactions and positions through the FDI network and possibly conduct bilateral exercises to reduce asymmetries in services.

The largest Belgian asymmetries in FDI and ITS are investigated within the FDI and ITS ARM framework. Belgium is in the process of analysing the asymmetries with the Netherlands on the main items of ITSS.

Until reference period 2012, BPM6 back data for BOP and IIP were derived from existing BPM5 components, complemented with additional detail when available, without using the BPM6 compilation system. Since reference period 2013, the surveys were adapted and detailed input data are directly derived from raw survey data resulting in a minor methodological break (not quantified). 

In 2021, as of reference year 2018, the new ECB Guideline on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of external statistics was implemented in Belgium. At the same time some methodological improvements were introduced (the most significant one being the inclusion of intra group trade credits and trade debts in direct investment instead of other investment). This creates a (temporary) break in 2018. Back data as of reference period 2013 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2024.

see 15.2

Methodological guidelines for compiling BoP, ITS and FDI statistics are defined by the Balance of Payments manual of the IMF (6th edition) and further specified by Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services of the United Nations and the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investments (4th edition).

Methodological guidelines for compiling BOP, IIP, FDI and ITS statistics are defined by the BPM6, the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services of the United Nations, and the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investments (BD4). 

The methodology for Goods and Services is outlined in Chapter 10 of the IMF BPM6. For community statistics, countries are expected to record different values for Goods “national” and “community” concepts, if applicable. 

The data collection system is based on the international trade in goods data collection.
These data are supplemented with ad hoc surveys on specific transactions based on a cut-off approach or a sampling approach depending on the topic covered. Belgium does not deviate from the international standards.

The methodology for Goods and Services is outlined in Chapter 10 of the IMF BPM6.

The Belgian services account is based on different surveys. The system is a mixture of cut-off and sampling techniques for the non-financial sector.

The NCB is responsible for the collection of the services surveys. For the non-financial sector, the system is made up of two subsystems, namely an exhaustive survey for the major enterprises on a monthly or quarterly basis and a non-exhaustive survey for the other companies on a quarterly basis. An exhaustive survey is also foreseen for head offices, insurance brokers and tour operators. The financial sector is surveyed in an exhaustive way. Estimations for non-response for the exhaustive surveys are done based on a constant sample estimation method. The growth rate between two periods for companies having completed the survey is applied to companies that did not answer. Extrapolations are made for the companies not included in the sample of the surveys (grossing-up to the population). These adjustments are based on the VAT grids 44, 46, 48 and 84, 86, 88. Extrapolation and non-response estimations are performed by an in-house developed statistical tool. The declarations in the services surveys are based on the bookkeeping of the respondents. Reporters are instructed to report transactions when they occur, not when they are paid (accrual basis).

The main other sources are:

- Payment card data (travel)

- Imports and exports from the EU institutions (mirror data)

- National Accounts estimates (FISIM)

- Annual accounts (asset management costs taken out of income)

Deviation: Long-term construction projects (over one year) where no local affiliate is set up, are considered as construction services, not direct investment.

The methodology for Primary Income is outlined in Chapter 11 of the IMF BPM6.

Deviation: Portfolio investment income is recorded when paid instead of when accrued or announced in the case of dividends.

The methodology for Secondary Income is outlined in Chapter 12 of the IMF BPM6.

Belgium does not deviate from international standards.

The methodology for the Capital Account is outlined in Chapter 13 of the IMF BPM6.

Belgium does not deviate from international standards.

The methodology for Direct Investment is outlined in Chapters 6, 8 and Appendix 6 of the IMF BPM6.

Deviations:

- No registration is made in the direct investment components for the value of long-term construction contracts and for mobile equipment operated in another economy for more than one year. However, it is assumed that significant contracts lead to the creation of an affiliate and thus are in fact registered as direct investment.

- Direct investment income: accrued interest is estimated in the income account, but not included in the financial account

- Reverse investment and equity links between fellows in the context of direct investment are not recorded appropriately and in a consistent way for stocks and flows; the impact of these items for the financial accounts was not verified. However, this is believed to be limited.

The methodology for Portfolio Investment is outlined in Chapters 6, and 8 of the IMF BPM6.

Belgium does not deviate from international standards.

The methodology for Other Investment is outlined in Chapters 6, and 8 of the IMF BPM6.

Deviation: Presently no registration is made in the BOP financial account for the transactions related to the lump sum of a financial lease contract representative of the underlying capital of the contract; only a proxy is computed based on the registered flows related to financial leasing.

The methodology for Financial Derivatives is outlined in Chapters 6, and 8 of the IMF BPM6.

Deviation: Financial derivatives for the households' sector are not included.

There are no other methodological deviations.

There are no changes in the data collection or validation.

There were two changes in the data compilation:

- real estate mirror data as provided by the ECB was used to improve real estate estimations.

- the compilation of intra-Eurosystem “technical” balances changed from a residual approach to a refined estimation based on the shipment of Euro Banknote Statistics.

These indicators refer to Chapter 6 and the corresponding tables of the Eurostat Quality Report: Coherence.

The comparability between BOP, IIP, FDI, ITS and National accounts is ensured by the application of common concepts and definitions of BPM6 and the 2008 SNA/ESA 2010.

Further information and country-specific feedback is provided below. 

The alignment between sub annual and annual statistics is ensured on an annual basis.

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 6.2.1: BOP/ITGS reconciliation. The corresponding table – to be completed by countries is part of the Quality Report Annex 2 and is included in the Metadata Handler in form of a separate Excel Sheet.  

ITGS cover goods “which add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory” (United Nations IMTS: Concepts and Definitions 1998, paragraph 14). This basis differs from the change of ownership between residents and nonresidents required for BOP, so adjustments are needed.

Please refer to BPM6 § 10.17 for cases that are included in the BOP definition of general merchandise because there is a change of ownership of goods between a resident and a nonresident.

Please refer to BPM6 § 10.22 for items to be excluded from general merchandise because there is no international transaction because there is no change of ownership of goods between a resident and a nonresident, or because the goods have no value. 

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 6.2.2: Consistency with National Accounts. The corresponding tables in the Eurostat Quality Report assess the external consistency between the BOP and Rest-of-the-World Account in NA. As the concepts for the BOP and NA accounting frameworks are, in principle, consistent with one another, an assessment of the consistency concludes on how far these two accounting frameworks have been consolidated with each other. 

The alignment exercise with national accounts is ensured on a yearly basis and not on a quarterly basis. 

These indicators refer to Chapter 6 and the corresponding tables of the Eurostat Quality Report: Coherence. 

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 6.1.2 Consistency between quarterly and annual data: The Quality Report Tables monitor the progress made in aligning quarterly and annual data.

For example, ITS and FDI annual data are compared with the sum of the corresponding four quarters for partners Extra EU27 and Rest of the World.

There is full consistency between quarterly and annual data.

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 6.1.3 Consistency between quarterly and monthly data: Quarters are compared with the sum of the corresponding three months for partners Extra EU27 and Rest of the World for Goods, Services and Secondary Income and partner Rest of the World for Primary Income. The discrepancy, computed as difference between the sum of the monthly and the quarterly data, is also shown as a share of the quarterly value. 

There is full consistency between quarterly and monthly data.

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 6.1.4 Consistency between BOP and IIP figures. 

Belgian BOP and IIP are fully consistent.

This indicator refers to Eurostat Quality Report Chapter 6.1.5 Errors and Omissions (E&O). Although the BOP accounts are, in principle, balanced, imbalances result in practice from imperfections in source data and compilation. This imbalance is labelled net errors and omissions. According to BPM6 § 2.25, “a consistent sign indicates a bias in one or more components. A persistent positive value of net errors and omissions suggests that credit entries have been understated or omitted or debit entries have been overstated. In contrast, a volatile pattern may suggest timing problems. However, although net errors and omissions can help point to some problems, it is an incomplete measure because errors and omissions in opposite directions offset each other.”

The size and the sign of the E&O item are analysed in the Eurostat Quality Report Tables.

Net errors and omissions are small for Belgium.

Not applicable. 

Source: A Harmonised European Revision Policy for Macroeconomic Statistics; CMFB October 2017. Macroeconomic statistics, such as national accounts, the balance of payments and the international investment position, are produced from a large variety of data sources. These data sources are reconciled using an approach based on an agreed set of international guidelines. The sources used to estimate macroeconomic aggregates are provided with varying degrees of timeliness, taking up to three years or more in the case of structural sources. As users need national and international data as fast as possible, particularly on certain key aggregates like gross domestic product (GDP), data are produced using the sources and related indicators that are more readily available. As more complete data are obtained from these sources in due course and the structural sources are made available, the statistics are updated to incorporate the new information.

Such revisions of macroeconomic statistics are necessary to improve quality, but can be inconvenient for users. To minimise this inconvenience, revisions should ideally be coordinated within one country, across different statistics, and then across countries. International comparability – and the compilation of EU and euro area aggregate statistics – is hampered when different revision policy schemes are applied in different countries. As the schedule of revision of national accounts and balance of payments statistics varies from country to country, this creates inconsistencies among different statistical domains.

The European Statistical System (ESS) and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) try to strike the right balance between incorporating the necessary statistical revisions and maintaining an acceptable degree of consistency across domains and countries. To this end, the two systems have worked together to draw up guidelines for a harmonised revision policy for macroeconomic statistics.

A distinction should be made between 'routine' revisions and 'major' or 'benchmark' revisions. Routine revisions refer to the changes made to the economic data published initially and to its subsequent releases for a particular reference quarter or year. The earlier estimates typically undergo the most significant revision. In routine revisions, the number of past periods being revised (the 'depth' of the revision) is typically relatively limited. Benchmark revision is carried out at much longer time intervals. Its purpose is to incorporate the main new data sources and major changes in international statistical methodology (such as ESA 2010 or BPM6). In benchmark revision, many years are open for revision in order to create the longest possible consistent time series.

The National Statistical Offices and the National Central Banks are not legally bound by this common policy, but voluntarily agree to it and commit to gradually implement it with the aim of delivering more consistent statistics to users. The level of adherence to the guidelines of countries' revision policies will be monitored regularly.

Belgian BoP and IIP data are subject to regular revisions, in accordance with the revision calendar for data transmissions to the ECB/Eurostat. Monthly data (BoP) are revised with the next quarterly data production cycle. Quarterly data (BoP/IIP) are revised with the next quarterly data production cycle. Yearly data (BoP/IIP) are revised for three years in the BoP/IIP yearly revision cycle in September. The final version of the data for all periods of year N is published in September N+3. The revision of a year or a quarter involves the revision of every month concerned. 

Data revisions due to changes in methodology are explained on the website of the National Bank of Belgium.

Not applicable. 

This quality concept refers to whether the composition of data sources (surveys, ITRS (International Transactions Reporting System), administrative data, ITGS, monetary and financial statistics, etc.), in principle, sufficiently covers the compilation of BOP, IIP, FDI and ITS. 

Information on Belgian source data is available in the ECB BoP book (updated in 2016) : European Union Balance of Payments and International Investment Position statistical sources and methods, November 2016 (europa.eu)

Please refer to Table Data-Sources Detail.

Not applicable.

The following sub-categories refer to the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification (EBOPS 2010) data collection. The EBOPS 2010 classification provides a breakdown of the Balance of Payments Trade in Services items (debit and credit) as defined in BPM6, by types of services. The classification thereby meets a number of user requirements, including the provision of more detailed information on Trade in services as required in connection with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

EBOPS 2010 is a primarily product-based classification of types of services, which in many cases may be described in terms of international classification of products as contained in CPC Ver. 2. However, the classification also includes transaction-based criteria (for example, Travel, Government services, and Construction Services).

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

All EBOPS 2010 items are broken down by partner country.

No

Information on validation and coverage is available in the ECB BoP book (updated in 2016) : European Union Balance of Payments and International Investment Position statistical sources and methods, November 2016 (europa.eu)

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The Large Cases Unit analyses the largest belgian MNE's, adjustments are made based on their analysis.

Adjustments are made to harmonise BOP and NA on an annual frequency.

No seasonal adjustments.