Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The Danish balance of payments follows international guidelines and is therefore comparable with the balance of payments of other developed countries if they follow the guidelines stated in the 6th edition of the balance of payments manual (BPM6) published by the IMF or the 2008 edition of the System of National Accounts (SNA) published by the UN.

Comparability over time

Balance of payments compilations have been prepared since 1934, but from 1949, the compilations have been adapted to the form used by the IMF. Until 1997, very long series without significant breaks exist for the main items: goods, services, income, and transfers. From 1988, the compilation exists with the main items adapted to the IMF's 1993 balance of payments manual (the fifth manual). From 2005, the compilation is adapted to the IMF's 2009 balance of payments manual (the sixth manual). In the major revision in 2014, data was revised back to 2005. Breaks: - The treatment of interest payments in connection with financial derivatives is adapted to new international guidelines from 1997. This results in modest changes to the balance for property income but significant changes to the gross amounts of property income, i.e., income and expenses. - A major investigation of available sources for the main item services resulted in a considerable increase of both import and exports of services as form year 1999, the current account balance remaining unchanged. This change was due to increased detail in the source material for the compilation of services, resulting in some transactions previously netted now being reported on gross flows. - From January 2005, a new statistical source and method have been applied to the compilation of the balance of payments. The previous source for the compilation of service trade, Nationalbankens payment statistics, has been discontinued, and the statistics on International Trade in Services have been introduced. Read more about the method for compiling international trade in services in the statistical documentation for International Trade in Services. The changes in the source have caused data breaks in virtually all items to a greater or lesser extent. However, it is believed that the surplus on the balance of payments current account is compiled without significant breaks. In connection with the new integrated dissemination of International Trade in Goods, International Trade in Services, and the Balance of Payments, which first appeared on January 11, 2021, the methodological differences due to the border-crossing principle in International Trade in Goods and the ownership change principle in the balance of payments have been distributed by the type of goods (see more about the methodological differences in the section "Consistency with Other Statistics"). Previously, the balance of payments did not show which type of goods had been traded. The method for distributing the methodological differences by the type of goods has been improved so that it is now more precise, and therefore, from the publication on February 8, 2021, revised figures for the distribution of commodity types in the statistics bank back to 2010 will be available. The clarifications primarily result from better methods for distributing especially freight on import goods for processing and price adjustments on goods that have crossed the border for historical figures. See an overview of the changes in this table of changes due to the new method for the distribution of the balance of payments trade in goods. The changes mean that the figures in the News published on January 11, 2021, are not entirely comparable with the figures published after February 8, 2021.

Coherence - cross domain

The balance of payments goods concept is methodologically different from the statistics on international trade in goods. The balance of payments operates with an ownership change principle, while the statistics on international trade in goods operate with a border-crossing principle. Furthermore, the value of goods is calculated at the sender's border (the so-called FOB value) in the balance of payments, while the statistics on international trade in goods calculate the import value at the importer's border (the so-called CIF value) and the export value at the exporter's border (FOB). The main differences between the statistics on international trade in goods and the balance of payments compilation of goods are the purchase and sale of goods not crossing the Danish border, which includes purchase and sale in connection with processing of goods abroad and purchase and sale of goods not crossing Danish borders (merchanting) as well as Danish vessels' purchase of goods abroad (e.g., Danish ships' purchase of fuel in a foreign port). In the table BBUHV, it is possible to see the transition between the two principles. The balance of payments compilation of services is identical to the statistics on international trade in services. The quarterly compilations of international trade in series are recalculated every month in connection with the publication of the balance of payments. The balance of payments is identical to the national accounts sector account for sector rest of the world and is included in the calculation of key figures such as GDP, GNI, and disposable GNI. There is full consistency between the balance of payments and the statistics on international trade in services and the compilation of national accounts in the months when these statistics are published. In months when the national accounts are not published, there may be revisions to quarters in the balance of payments that have not yet been incorporated into the national accounts.

Coherence - internal

There is full internal consistency between the monthly, quarterly, and annual publications of the balance of payments.