Introduction and news

The National Bank of Belgium is responsible for balance of payments statistics and international investment position statistics. In this context, it also draws up statistics relating to international trade in services and statistics for foreign direct investment.

Balance of payments

Belgium’s balance of payments is a statistical summary of all transactions between residents and non-residents (see below) over a given period.

The balance of payments is a single instrument for the analysis and conduct of economic and monetary policies by enabling each category of transaction to be quantified according to universally accepted methodological rules.

The balance of payments for non-specialists

Direct investments

We refer to direct investment in cases where a resident is able to control or to significantly influence the management of a business resident in another economy. In practice, once the resident holds at least 10% of the voting power in the enterprise, it is considered to be a direct investment.

International investment position

The international investment position is the statistical summary of the outstanding assets and liabilities between residents and non-residents at a particular point in time.

Newsletters

Newsletters are sent to all declarants to inform them of the latest changes related to the balance of payments.

Training

In order to enable companies to fill in their declarations, the National Bank regularly organises training courses. These are devoted both to the content of the declarations and to the OneGate application.

These training courses are free of charge and are currently given online.

If you are interested, don’t hesitate to send an e-mail to [email protected] to plan a session concerning your information needs.