Balance Of Payments

Domain	Definitions
Agriculture	An accounting statement measuring the value of goods, services and capital exchanged between a country and all foreign countries. A nation is said to have either: (1) a balance of payments deficit if it sends abroad less in goods, services, and capital than it receives from foreigners; or (2) a balance of payments surplus if it sends abroad more in goods, services, and capital than it receives. (references)
Economics	A statement summarizing all the economic and financial transactions between companies, banks, private households and public authorities of one nation with those of the other nations of the world over a specific time period. It includes merchandise trade payments, payments and receipts on account of shipping services, tourist services, financial services, government expenditures, short and long term capital movements, interest and dividends, gold movements, etc. (references)
Statistics	Non-seasonally adjusted indicator which records all economic transactions undertaken between the residents and non-residents of a country during a given period. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Balance of payments

The balance of payments is a simple measure of the payments in financial capital that flow from one nation to another. If more money flows in than out, one has a positive balance of payments - if more flows out than in, one has then a negative balance.

Historically these flows simply were not carefully measured, and the flow proceeded in many commodities and currencies without restriction, clearing being a matter of judgement by individual banks and the governments that licensed them to operate. Mercantilism was a theory that took special notice of the balance in payments and sought simply to monopolize gold, in part to keep it out of the hands of potential military opponents (a large "war chest" being a prerequisite to start a war, whereupon much trade would be embargoed).

As mercantilism gave way to classical economics, these crude systems were later regulated in the 19th century by the gold standard which linked central banks by a convention to redeem "hard currency" in gold. After World War II this system was replaced by the Bretton Woods institutions (the International Monetary Fund and Bank for International Settlements) which pegged currency of participating nations to the US dollar, which was redeemable nominally in gold. In the 1970s this redemption ceased, leaving the system without a formal base. Some consider the system today to be based on oil, a universally desirable commodity due to the dependence of so much infrastructural capital on oil supply. Since OPEC prices oil in US dollars, the US dollar remains a reserve currency, but is increasingly challenged by the Euro, and to some degree the yuan (which is not traded outside China legally, but due to this is almost immune to any degree of chaos on the world's financial markets).

The balance of trade is a more fundamental measure of underlying goods and services, rather than the money that pays for them. Obviously the two are related to some degree, or else trade and payments would probably not continue.

See also: money supply

Commercial Usage: Balance Of Payments

Domain	Title
Books	Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook: 2001 (Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook, 2001) (reference) British Monetary Policy and the Balance of Payments, 1951-1957 (reference) Canada and the Gold Standard : Balance of Payments Adjustment under Fixed Exchange Rates, 1871-1913 (reference) Canada's crippled dollar : an analysis of international trade and our troubled balance of payments (reference) Inflation, Economic Growth and the Balance of Payments in Bangladesh: A MacRoeconomic Study (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Balance Of Payments Statistics Yearbook (reference) Balance Of Payments (reference) Balance Of Payments And International Investment Position Au (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Non-Fiction Usage: Balance Of Payments

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		Added depreciation of the peso in 1995 helped bring a major correction in that year's balance of payments. (references)
		RES project implementation will reduce the dependency on energy imports and consequently improve the balance of payments for the energy sector. (references)
Economic History	Brazil	Brazil's balance of payments deficit was $2.3 billion. (references)
	Bulgaria	Bulgaria's balance of payments situation is currently stable. (references)
	Sri Lanka	The balance of payments also recorded a deficit of $516 million. (references)
Political Economy	DENMARK	Except for 1998, Denmark has had a balance of payments surplus since 1990. (references)
	GREECE	In 1985, and again in 1991, Greece received a balance of payments loan from the EU. (references)
	ITALY	Although the domestic public debt level is high, Italy has not had problems with external debt or balance of payments since the mid-1970s. (references)
Trade	Kenya	In December 1991, multilateral and bilateral donors temporarily suspended balance of payments assistance to Kenya. (references)
	Luxembourg	Luxembourg has run a persistent trade deficit over the past ten years, but enjoys an overall balance of payments surplus. (references)
	Kenya	Substantial project aid was maintained by both bilateral and multilateral donors during the period after the end of 1991 when balance of payments support was suspended. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speeches: Balance Of Payments

Modern Translations: Balance Of Payments

Language		Translations for "balance of payments"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		betalingsbalance (net liquidity balance, official settlements account). (various references)

Dutch		betalingsbalans. (various references)

Finnish		maksutase (net liquidity balance, official settlements account). (various references)

French		BDP (balance of payment), balance des paiements (balance of payment). (various references)

German		zahlungsbilanz (balance of payment). (various references)

Greek		ισοζύγιο πληρωμών. (various references)

Hungarian		fizetési mérleg. (various references)

Italian		bilancia dei pagamenti. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		総合収�"� (overall balance of payments), 国際収�"� (international balance of payments). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		そう�"うしゅうし (overall balance of payments), �"くさいしゅうし (international balance of payments). (various references)

Pig Latin		alancebay ofay aymentspay.(various references)

Portuguese		balança de pagamentos. (various references)

Russian		платежный баланс. (various references)

Spanish		balanza de pagos. (various references)

Swedish		betalningsbalans (net liquidity balance, official settlements account). (various references)

Turkish		ödemeler dengesi. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Anagrams: Balance Of Payments

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-a-b-c-e-e-f-l-m-n-n-o-p-s-t-y"
	-5 letters: flamboyances.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Alternative Orthography: Balance Of Payments

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

42 61 6C 61 6E 63 65 4F 66 50 61 79 6D 65 6E 74 73

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000010 01100001 01101100 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01001111 01100110 00100000 01010000 01100001 01111001 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 01110011

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#66 &#97 &#108 &#97 &#110 &#99 &#101 &#32 &#79 &#102 &#32 &#80 &#97 &#121 &#109 &#101 &#110 &#116 &#115

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0042 0061 006C 0061 006E 0063 0065 004F 0066 0050 0061 0079 006D 0065 006E 0074 0073

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
John F. Kennedy	1961-1963	I have commented on the state of the domestic economy, our balance of payments, our Federal and social budget and the state of the world.
Lyndon B. Johnson	1963-1969	Our balance of payments deficit has declined and the soundness of our dollar is unquestioned.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Balance Of Payments

Definition: Balance Of Payments