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Contents

INTRODUCTION
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL METHODOLOGY
1.1 Key concepts and accounting framework of the balance of payments and international investment position statistics
1.2 Structure of the balance of payments
1.2.1 Current account
1.2.2 Capital account
1.2.3 Financial account
1.3 International investment position
1.4 Balance of payments in the macroeconomic statistics framework, links to the system of national accounts
1.5 Major changes from the previous edition
1.5.1 Necessity of the new edition
1.5.2 Harmony with the national accounts
1.5.3 Changes in the classification of financial instruments
1.5.4 Significant changes in classification within functional categories
1.5.5 The structure of the new balance of payments manual

2 NATIONAL PRACTICE IN HUNGARY
2.1 Methodology of the compilation of the balance of payments and international investment position statistics
2.1.1 General remarks
2.1.2 Major components and instruments in the balance of payments and international investment position
2.1.3 Methodology and special aspects of Hungarian practice
2.2 Data collection and processing system
2.2.1 Current data collection system
2.2.2 Data provision process
2.2.3 Data processing system
2.3 Release and revision of balance of payments statistics
2.3.1 Release calendar
2.3.2 Data revision policy

3 EFFECT OF IMPLEMENTING THE NEW METHODOLOGY ON THE BALANCE OF PAYMENTS AND THE RELATED STOCK DATA
3.1 Effects of the BPM6 methodology on the financing capacity calculated from above
3.1.1 Goods and Services
3.1.2 Changes in primary and secondary income
3.1.3 Changes in the capital account
3.2 Effect of the change in methodology in the financial account and in the stock data
3.3 Retrospective data revisions performed simultaneously with the change in methodology

ANNEX 1
Data collection for the compilation of the balance of payments statistics by subject area

ANNEX 2
Notes on the classification of data of 1990-1994 in a new structure

APPENDIX
Example for the compilation of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position
Explanation of important special terms used in the publication

REFERENCES

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Introduction

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank's Statistics Directorate is now publishing Hungary's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics (hereinafter the Publication) for the third time, to provide information to a wide range of users on the international methodology of the balance of payments and international investment position statistics and to explain the method of compilation of these statistics in Hungary. The reason for the updated release of the Publication within such a short period is that, in the European Union Member States, the changeover to the new statistical methodology which better reflects the current developments of the world economy (such as the spread of globalisation, the increased role of multinational corporations, free flow of capital, etc.) took place in 2014. The joint BPM6 changeover date within the EU was also coordinated with the implementation date of the new European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), which was revised in line with the new System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).

This Publication presents and explains the key concepts and conventions relating to the balance of payments and international investment position statistics as well as the structure of statistical reports and the conventions applied in their compilation. The explanation of the relationship with the system of national accounts is of fundamental importance for understanding the system of macroeconomic statistics and in particular understanding the role of balance of payments statistics. Implementation of the new methodology has changed the structure of the balance of payments statistics in such a manner that the applied conceptual framework has been brought even closer to the system of national accounts. This is also manifest in renaming the major subaccounts (usage of primary income and secondary income in the balance of payments, as opposed to the former terms of income and current transfers), and the integration of the balancing items (net lending/net borrowing) into the standard structure. Chapter 1 focuses on the presentation of the international methodology.

In addition to presenting the international methodology, the MNB also wishes this Publication to present the national practice applied in the compilation of external accounts statistics. As part of that, in Chapter 2 we deal with Hungary's specialities in terms of the system of data collection, processing and release.

The MNB website always discloses the most recent balance of payments and international investment position figures; therefore there is no annex to this Publication devoted specifically to statistical figures. However, the effect of the BPM6 changeover on the major aggregates is presented in Chapter 3.

Similarly to the previous edition in 2012, there is a special annex containing the complete list of monthly, quarterly and yearly reports to feed into the compilation of the balance of payments statistics. According to the accounting under the new methodology, we also updated the Appendix, where interested users can follow specific examples for monitoring the technical steps related to the statistical treatment of individual transactions. At the end of the Publication there is a section with brief explanations of the key special terms and a list of useful references to outside sources.

The various chapters of the publication were written by staff members of Magyar Nemzeti Bank Statistical Directorate working on balance of payments and international investment position statistics, namely: Péter Bánhegyi, Mihály Durucskó, Magdolna Kanyóné Pető, Beáta Montvai, Vanda Simonné Tánczos and Erika Veitzné Kenyeres, while the data available on the MNB website were compiled by János Basa, Gyöngyi Lipcsei and Dóra Bräutigam. The Publication was authorised by Director Ágnes Tardos.

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