BOPCOM-00/12 ________________________________________________________________________ Thirteenth Meeting of the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics Washington, D.C., October 23–27, 2000 Training in the Use of Balance of Payments Statistics—Staff Notes Prepared by the Statistics Department International Monetary Fund BALANCE OF PAYMENTS Macroeconomic Statistics for Analysis and Policy Formulation The notion of different balances In an overall balance of payments statement, the net sum of debit and credit entries (including the balancing items) is necessarily zero. This is because, with double entry recording system discussed, every transaction appears as both a credit entry and a debit entry. The current account balance is necessarily equal (with the sign reversed) to the net capital and financial account balance plus reserve assets transactions. This relationship shows that the net provision, as measured by the current account balance, of resources to, or from, the rest of the world must be matched by a change in net claims on, or to, the rest of the world. However, the presentation of balance of payments statement and the analytic balances in use in national and