Central Statistics Office

Balance of Payments 

Analysis and Dissemintion

Central Statistics Office

Ardee Road Rathmines 

Dublin 6

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).

Not applicable.

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.

BPM6 CA and FA transactions are available from Q12012

BPM6  Current, Capital & FA Balances are available from Q12002

BPM6  IIP from Q12012

BPM5 CA and FA transactions are available from  Q1998-Q42013

BPM5 Current, Capital & FA Balances are available from Q1998-Q42013

BPM5  IIP from Q1998-Q42013

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 unit of measurment 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.

The Statistics (Balance of Payments Survey) Order 2020 (Statutory Instrument S.I. No. 91 of 2020) made under the Statistics Act of 1993 is the primary legal basis for collecting the required data from providers. This order specifies who may be surveyed, the frequency with which they may be surveyed and the nature of the data that may collected.

In addition, the European Communities (Statistics) Regulations, 1999 were introduced in June 1999 to allow the CSO to meet obligations under Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 (as amended by council regulations (EC) Nos. 951/2009 of 9 October 2009 and by council regulation (EU) 2015/373 of 5 March 2015) concerning the statistical requirements of the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB has a statutory basis - ECB Guideline ECB/2004/15 of 16 July 2004, as amended by Guideline ECB2007/3 of 31 May 2007, recast in Guideline ECB/2011/23 of 9 December 2011, as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2013/25 of 30 July 2013 and EU Guideline 2016/231 of 26 November 2015 - for the compilation and supply of the BOP and related data it requires. Related to this, its formal instrument - ECB Recommendation ECB/2004/16 of 22 July 2004, as amended by ECB Recommendation ECB/2007/4 of 31 May 2007– applies to the CSO.

Also, Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005, as amended by Regulations 601 and 602/2006 of 18 April 2006, 1137/2008 of 22 October 2008, 707/2009 of 5 August 2009, 555/2012 of 22 June 2012 and 2016/1013 of 8 June 2016 specifies the EU Commission (Eurostat) requirements concerning Balance of Payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment statistics.

Institutional Mandate – National level

• The Statistics (Balance of Payments Survey) Order 2020 (Statutory Instrument S.I. No. 91 of 2020) made under the Statistics Act of 1993

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 December2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 (OJ No L 283/3).

Quarterly information on merchandise trade and travel statistics are obtained from the relevant compiling divisions within the CSO. Administrative data obtained from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and from government departments or their agencies such as the office of the Revenue Commissioners are also used.

Apart from the quarterly data obtained from direct collection, internal CSO or external administrative sources, ancillary information to assist with the compilation of results is also used. This largely consists of Irish Stock Exchange listings, currency exchange and interest rates, CBI statistics and any other relevant statistical information from industry association or other sources.

Arrangements have been put in place, in co-operation with the CBI, for the collection and compilation of statistics for banks, investment funds and financial vehicle corporations (e.g. FVCs). The system has been in operation since 2008 and has significantly reduced the burden on respondents as one return now meets a number of requirements for CSO and CBI. This development is in line with our commitment to minimise the burden on data providers. The collection system is also designed to meet the European Central Bank (ECB)'s requirement to collect Portfolio Investment statistics on a security by security basis.  It is intended that arrangements for collection of Portfolio Investment data on this basis will be extended to other categories of financial enterprises in due course.

Qualitative information useful for statistical register purposes is obtained from the CSO Central Business Register (CBR) and from other sources. In addition, information from the Department of Finance, the CBI and the Companies Registration Office (CRO) is used in the maintenance of the financial services enterprises section of the register. Individual company data from the internal CSO merchandise trade statistics database, along with any useful information from newspapers, periodicals, etc., are used as inputs into the statistical register system.

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.

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.

Aggregated statistical results which are published nationally or supplied to international organisations may include analytical statistical elements which are statistically confidential and which therefore have to be suppressed. Such confidential data can arise where there are a small number of contributors (enterprises) to a particular piece of information or in other cases where one or two contributors are very dominant. The information is suppressed in a way that renders it undisclosed either directly or indirectly by derivation.

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.

Confidentiality was applied only where necessary to safeguard the identity of respondent.

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

The Quarterly International Accounts, annual ITS, annual FDI, Resident Holding of Foreign Portfoliio securities and annual STEC statistics are scheduled for release in the publically available CSO release calendar

The scheduled release calendar can be accessed at the following link: CSO release calendar

Eurostat Website:

BOP: monthly and quarterly

FDI flows and stocks: annually

IIP: quarterly and annually        

ITS: annually

The Quarterly International Accounts and the Quarterly National Accounts are published at the same time each quarter and are publically available on the CSO Website.

The Bop services and income statistics are  published in summary in the Quarterly National Accounts publication in chapter 4 'GDP Expenditure' and chapter 5 'International Trade'.

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-na/quarterlynationalaccountsquarter42022/gdp-expenditure/

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-na/quarterlynationalaccountsquarter42022/internationaltrade/

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

Not applicable.

The Quarterly Bop, Quaterly IIP, annual International Trade in Services release (ITS), annual Foreign Direct Ivestment Statistics (FDI) and the resident holdings of foreign Portfolio Securities are published nationally on the CSO website at the following link:

The data is not accessible in micro-data form

The Quarterly Bop, Quaterly IIP, annual International Trade in Services release (ITS), annual Foreign Direct Ivestment Statistics (FDI) and the resident holdings of foreign Portfolio Securities are published nationally on the CSO website at the following link:

Not applicable.

Quarterly Bop Compilation Methodology  https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/methods/internationalaccounts/Background_notes_updated_March18.pdf

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

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

The Bop statutory inquiries are conducted to meet the requirements of Regulation (EC) 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 (as amended by Regulation Nos. 601/2006, 602/2006, 1137/2008, 707/2009, 555/2012 and 2016/1013) and the ECB Guideline ECB/2004/15 (as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2007/3 , recast in Guideline ECB/2011/23 as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2013/25 of 30 July 2013 and EU Guideline 2016/231 of 26 November 2015) on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of Balance of Payments and international investment position statistics.

In fulfilling its mandate the CSO applies the best statistical standards and methodology, and adheres to the highest professional standards of impartiality, integrity and independence. The Office fully subscribes to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

The CSO operates under a strict legal regime, supported by a robust quality framework, the backbone of which is the European Statistics Code of Practice (ESCOP). This Code of Practice is made up of 16 principles covering the institutional environment, the statistical production process and the output of statistics. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) as a member of the European Statistical system is duty-bound and committed to following the Code. Each of the 16 principles has a number of specific indicator measures which are enacted through the policies, standards and practices of the CSO.

In accordance with the ESCOP quality standards, the quality requirements of CSO’s statistical outputs are:

• to be relevant with regard to meeting users information needs
• to be accurate so that estimates or indicators accurately and reliably portray reality
• to be timely so that statistics are made available to users in a timely and punctual manner
• to be accessible so that statistics are presented to users in a clear, understandable form, released in a suitable and convenient manner, available and accessible on an impartial basis with supporting metadata
• to be comparable and coherent to enable comparison internally, over time or among related sources

The Quality Policy for the Office is set out in “Quality in Statistics - A Handbook of Quality Standards and Guidelines” . This provides information and recommendations on best practice and contains clear guidelines and standards to ensure that the quality of our processes and outputs are of the highest standard.

The CSO’s commitment to the quality of the statistics produced and disseminated is set out in its quality statement (see Central Statistics Office Quality Statement (PDF 101KB) ). This is further supported by the Government of Ireland adopted “Commitment on Confidence in Statistics” which declares support for the existing laws and for those policies and practices instigated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to meet its obligations under the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Standard reports on methods and quality for each statistical output are available on the Methods page of the CSO website. These reports provide information to users on the methodology in place in the particular survey area together with an assessment of the quality of the resulting survey output in terms of the quality dimensions set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice.

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

According to EUROSTAT's quality report, (the 2022 edition), the overall quality of BOP data transmitted to Eurostat was in line with the EU requirements. The small number of outstanding methodology deviations for Ireland relate to 1) Financial Account, Other Investment where assets & liabilities of insurance, pension and standardised guarantee schemes are not correctly reported  2) the non-reporting of zero values for SPE’s within FDI stocks (which is now resolved with zero’s currently reported) 3) discrepancies between quarterly and annual FDI data  (which is temporary and due to the introduction of a new data processing and aggregation  system where quarterly FDI data is now generated from the new system and annual FDI data is still generated from the old system).

A standard report on Methods and Quality for Balance of Payments (BOP) and related results compilation is published nationally by the Bop Division each year 

Quality Report- Balance of Payments 2021

See chapter 5. Quality.

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 are predominantly National Accounts and Financial Accounts.  National users are Government Departments, the Irish Fiscal Council, researchers, embassies and economists.  Other data collecting institutions are the ECB and BIS, the OECD, the IMF and the UN.

The views of users are generally noted at the quarterly International Accounts press conference and at quarterly Macroeconomic Liaison Group meetings.

In attendance are economists from the National Banks, the Cenral Bank, the Economic and Social Research Institute and members of the Irish Fiscal Council and Goverment Departments.

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

Data availability - completeness is 100% for monthly Bop, quarterly Bop, quarterly IIP, ITS and FDI and 99% for quarterly revaluations.

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.

In general upward revision percentages fall wiithin or are above the target range of 40%-60% for Bop & IIP indicators. The directional reliability is good and predonimantly surpasses the prescriptive target of 80% with some exceptions (ie some Inc (W1) and Capital Account transactions and IIP DI (Dr)).

The directional stability indicators and the relative size indicators for Ireland’s data often fall outside the recommended targets due to the reporting of revised multinational activity which can be material in size.

(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.

Under normal circumstances, the nationally published quarterly BOP, IIP and External Debt results and the related calendar year results are first revised at end-June of each year when the first quarter’s results are published. They are revised for a second time one year later. At that point these results are normally considered final. The vintage analysis reflects this revision policy.

(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.

The unallooated partner geography for ITS and FDI will be addressed during the annual revisions,

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

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).

 The current national data collection and processing timetables are appropriate and meet the timeliness and periodicity deadlines for disseminatiion of  BOP, IIP, FDI and ITS statistics according to the EC Regulation

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

All monthly and quarterly data were transmitted ahead of the legal deadlines.

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 examination of both FDI and ITS asymmetries is ongoing. 

We participate in the FDI and ASI Asymmetry Resolution Mechanism (ARM) and we continue to work with member states to investigate and hopefully resolve asymmetries.   In gerneral the asymmetries are due to differences in coverage, in the time of recording and in the classification of transactions.

Consistent time series are available.

The published BOP and IIP results provide data back to 1998, the year of introduction of the current series. In the case of related statistical series retrospection is generally provided back to 2001. However, the series of annual geographical results for imports and exports of services was introduced from reference year 2003.

A consistent BPM6 time series is available from year 2012 and all statistics are comparable over time. 

Any changes in methodology are applied at bench mark revision periods and introduced as far back as possible to ensure the consistency of the series.  There are no breaks in this series.

A BPM5 tme series is available from year 1999 with a break in year 2012 for the introduction of BPM6.  However a range of statistics are also available from 1999 on a BPM6 basis.

There are some small deviation from international standards within a few serivces categories which are described in the sub-categories of 15.2.2.

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). 

Postal and courier services (pick-up, transport and delivery of letters, postcards, printed matter, parcels and packages) are included in information services rather than in transport services, which ia a small deviation from international standards.

Royalties received and paid in connection with the entertainment industry (concerning mainly film distributions and musical services) are included in personal, cultural and recreation services rather than within royalties and licence fees, which is also a deviation from international standards.

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

Postal and courier services (pick-up, transport and delivery of letters, postcards, printed matter, parcels and packages) are being included in information services rather than in transport services, a small deviation from international standards.

Royalties received and paid in connection with the entertainment industry (concerning mainly film distributions and musical services) are included in personal, cultural and recreation services rather than within royalties and licence fees, which is also a deviation from international standards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are no further methodological deviations

There were no methodology changes in the reference year.

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 BOP goods data are sourced from the International Trade monthly series which is measured on a cross border basis. For BOP purposes adjustments are applied to the International Trade series which follow the recommendations of the Balance of Payments manual (BPM6). The adjustments applied relate mainly to the recognition of a change in economic ownership taking place, rather than crossing Ireland’s frontier.

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. 

The differences between BOP/ITGS are presented in Annex 2 of the IE BPM6 - Based BOP Quality report.

The BOP goods data are sourced from the International Trade monthly series which is measured on a cross border basis. For BOP purposes adjustments are applied to the International Trade series which follow the recommendations of the Balance of Payments manual (BPM6). The adjustments applied relate mainly to the recognition of a change in economic ownership taking place, rather than crossing Ireland’s frontier.  

Adjustments are made for: 

Goods for processing, 

Merchanting of goods, 

Other Conceptual adjustments: estimates for purchases of aviation fuel abroad by Irish resident airlines, estimates for illegal cross-border trade, certain price adjustments applied to more accurately reflect the impact of merchandise exports and imports on the Irish economy, adjustments for goods owned by Irish residents which cross the border for repair but where there is no change of ownership and estimates for storage and provision costs.

'C.i.f. to f.o.b.' 

Imports\exports of aircraft in our goods statistics (as Aircraft imports and exports both on a cross-border and on an ownership basis are already included in the International Trade data.)

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 consistency between Bop and National Acounts is very good over time for Goods, Services, Compenation of employees, Investment/Property Income and the Capital Account.

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

There were no reported inconsistencies with integrity rules for the data tranmitted. 

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 were no reported inconsistencies between quarterly and annual ITS data tranmitted.  The inconsistencies between quarterly and annual FDI data are temporary and due to the introduction of a new data processing and aggregation system where quarterly FDI data is now generated from the new system and annual FDI data is still generated from the old system.

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 were no reported inconsistencies between quarterly and monthly data tranmitted. 

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

There were just negligable inconsistencies between Bop and IIP data (these negligable amounts were rounding differences)

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.

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.

The CSO Bop Division will continue its existing routine revision policy for quarterly and annual data.

The nationally published quarterly BOP, IIP and External Debt results and the related calendar year results are first revised at end-June of each year when the first quarter’s results are published. They are revised for a second time one year later. At that point these results are normally considered final. The nationally published detailed annual results are normally revised once and are then considered final. A very similar revision and results finalization policy applies to the data sent to Eurostat, ECB, IMF and OECD. Figures, particularly of a quarterly frequency, may be revised more frequently than described if a very significant revision is required or following introduction of significant methodological changes. 

The CSO Bop Division will continue its existing routine revision policy for quarterly and annual data.

The nationally published quarterly BOP, IIP and External Debt results and the related calendar year results are first revised at end-June of each year when the first quarter’s results are published. They are revised for a second time one year later. At that point these results are normally considered final. The nationally published detailed annual results are normally revised once and are then considered final. A very similar revision and results finalization policy applies to the data sent to Eurostat, ECB, IMF and OECD. Figures, particularly of a quarterly frequency, may be revised more frequently than described if a very significant revision is required or following introduction of significant methodological changes. 

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.

BOP data collection is statutory and surveys are conducted by the CSO and by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). Other data obtained from administrative sources are also used. Following the introduction of a redesigned BOP data collection system in 1998 and up to 2007, the CSO undertook all the necessary survey collection and compilation required. However, following a recent joint initiative involving the CSO and the CBI to rationalize statistical data collection and compilation for the financial sector and also to reduce the burden on data providers the data collection arrangements have changed.

As a consequence, since 2008 the data required from licensed banks (credit institutions) and from investment funds (including money market funds) to meet BOP, IIP and external debt requirements (as well as other statistical demands on both organisations) are being collected quarterly by the CBI under its legislation as well as European legislation[1]. The data are supplied by the CBI to CSO for statistical compilation purposes. The CSO has therefore discontinued its surveys of credit institutions and investment funds but continues to collect the required data from other financial enterprises as well as non-financial enterprises using its ongoing quarterly statutory surveys. These are conducted under the Statistics (Balance of Payments and Financial Accounts) Order, 2016 (S.I. No. 597 of 2016) made under the Statistics Act, 1993. The Central Bank commenced data collection form Financial Vehicle Corporations (FVC) in the last quarter of 2009. Preliminary data from this survey has been used to improve the existing estimates for FVCs in the current and financial accounts. 

The quarterly financial enterprise surveys cover banking, insurance and pension fund investment, asset financing, treasury, institutional investment, activities of investment funds (i.e. mutual funds, unit trusts and similar collective investment operations), broking and other financial service provision. Financial enterprises, including those engaged in internationally-traded financial service activities, known collectively as IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) enterprises are required to make returns. These returns are predominantly supplied in electronic form but a small number of reporters use paper forms.

Exhaustive coverage is aimed at but, in order to reduce reporting burden, companies with low activity volumes may, on approval from the CSO, provide annual data. Overall, about 5,000 financial entities are surveyed.

The surveys of manufacturing and non-financial service enterprises undertaken by the CSO are also designed to meet the new conceptual and geographical requirements. Coverage is on a sample selection basis, those surveyed being selected on the basis of statistical register information concerning transactions with non-residents. About 500 companies make quarterly and/or annual returns.

The survey information collected for all types of enterprises covers transactions with non-residents concerning purchases and sales of services, income flows, transfers, as well as acquisitions and disposals of foreign assets or liabilities. In order to facilitate compilation of the wider national accounts statistics, the surveys also collect data on transactions of reporting enterprises with residents of Ireland.

Apart from survey data, administrative sources also provide information on non-resident transactions (e.g. the National Treasury Management Agency, on flows associated with Ireland’s foreign debt and other transactions including those associated with the National Pensions Reserve Fund; the Department of Defence, concerning Ireland’s UN military peace-keeping activity; the Department of Foreign Affairs, on expenditure incurred in maintaining Ireland’s embassies and consulates abroad; the Central Bank of Ireland, on reserve assets and other assets/liabilities and associated income flows). Information is also obtained from other sources (e.g. charitable organisations, industry bodies). In addition, information on merchandise exports and imports and on tourism expenditure and receipts is obtained from other CSO inquiries.

Following other periodic enhancements, the compilation system includes the estimated values of a variety of cross-border transactions. These cover (a) direct imports and exports of goods for consumption of private households and not included in the official merchandise trade statistics; (b) improved data on transactions in services (tourism and travel; communications; construction; diplomatic and consular services; cultural services; bloodstock breeding); (c) estimates for income receipts from Irish resident investment in residential and commercial property abroad and for income remittances to the foreign owners of breeding bloodstock based in Ireland, along with improved estimates of the earnings (credits and debits) of students, other cross-border workers and local employees of embassies; (d) estimates for income taxes paid on the earnings of students and other cross-border workers and for the remittances abroad of earnings of immigrant workers in Ireland; and (e) estimates for investment in residential and commercial property abroad by Irish residents.

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).

The geographical allocation of resident/non-resident EBOPS 2010 transactions are implemented according to the centre of predominant economic interest (residence) of participating units.

EBOPS 2010 transactions in principle are recorded using market valuation.  In practice, the collection system (see below) is designed to adhere to this approach and, for the most part, the valuations reported are either market values or a close approximation.

BOP transactions, in principle, should be recorded on an accruals basis. In certain cases, income (interest) flows on debt securities may be reported on a cash rather than an accruals basis.

In case of a currency conversion the market exchange rate prevailing on the transaction dates is applied.

All EBOPS 2010 items are broken down by partner country.

Information on ITS are not compiled for categories beyond EBOPS 2010 and its complementary groupings.

On receipt in the CSO, all quarterly (and annual) returns are manually checked for obvious reporting errors. If no errors are apparent, the data are loaded into the Sybase database (BOP-facts) and undergo various automated consistency and plausibility data checks. If the data fail the more important checks, the CSO contacts the company concerned to query the data and make any necessary corrections.  

All data are converted to single euro within BOP-facts. Apart from the analyses available within the processing system, further analyses are undertaken using SAS software. Once verified and further processed as necessary, the data from all surveys are summarised to produce the results.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Imputation (for Non-Response or Incomplete Data Sets)

Estimates are made for partial or complete non-responses using either automated or manual imputation procedures. These estimates are based on previous returns made by the entity or on returns made by similar entities. Data available from Revenue, CBI and CRO are also used in making these estimates. This facility is largely applied only to non-returning smaller companies surveyed, as the larger companies are pursued until the data are supplied.

Grossing and Weighting

Profits and trade in services of the relevant manufacturing and non-financial service companies not covered by the BOP surveys are estimated from Census of Industrial Production and Annual Services Inquiry returns. These are geographically allocated according to the overall country breakdown for the relevant BOP survey and are added to the results of the surveys. 

Other Quality Assurance Techniques

The Large Cases Unit (part of national accounts Division) of the CSO carries out data collection and checks the consistency of quarterly and annual data returned by large manufacturing and non-financial services companies for various divisions within the CSO, including the BOP Division. The Large Cases Unit liaises on an on-going basis with these divisions and with any company concerned to determine the reasons for any significant discrepancy or inconsistency. In an on-going effort to improve data quality the Large Cases Unit operates a programme of company visits and liaison so that the CSO becomes aware as early as possible of any material change in companies’ operational, accounting or reporting practices affecting the data returned. BOP personnel often participate in these visits and also make visits independently as and when specific BOP problems need to be resolved.
Prior to publication, some further manual checking is also carried out on the consistency of the BOP/IIP results with information available elsewhere, e.g. financial trade data, production statistics and profits data. More in-depth data quality checks are conducted annually against data available to the national accounts Division.
Concerning financial enterprises, the quality analyses undertaken by the CSO involve comparison of its results with aggregate data available from other sources. These include representative associations for insurance companies, pension funds, collective investment institutions (CIIs e.g. mutual funds, Undertaking Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)), government departments, etc. In addition, the CSO and the CBI undertake a detailed reconciliation of aggregate money and banking statistics and BOP/IIP statistics for Monetary Financial Institutions (i.e. credit institutions and money market funds) each quarter. Work is also on-going between the two organisations to reconcile differences between aggregate BOP/IIP data and regulatory data relating to CIIs and other financial intermediaries (OFIs).

The Bop data are not seasonally adjusted.

To date the results have not been seasonally adjusted as the international standards do not require such treatment. The BOP Financial Account and the IIP transactions and stocks statistics – as well as the FDI and portfolio security statistics - tend to be quite volatile in both magnitude and direction. Sudden changes in trends and patterns can therefore occur depending on actual or anticipated events occurring in local and global financial markets.