BPM6—Update on Revision and Implementation Strategies Meeting of the OECD Working Party on International Trade in Goods and Trade in Services Statistics September 22-24, 2008
Major changes: Goods and services Among the most notable changes: Fees for processing goods—to be included in services Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others Major processing In BPM5, a change of ownership of goods was imputed Merchanting transactions—to be treated as trade in goods for the economy of the merchant Purchases—negative exports Re-sales—exports Transactions are standard components
Major changes: Goods and services High value goods acquired by travelers to be recorded as merchandise rather than under travel services (previously could be double- counted) Repairs on goods to be classified as services, not goods. The sales of research and development such as patents and copyrights, are treated as produced assets and included in services; previously in the capital account as non- produced assets.
Major changes: Goods and services Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) to be recorded as a service Margin between interest payable or receivable and the reference rate on loans and deposits Pure interest included in primary income Insurance services to be calculated taking account of the volatility of claims. Also, premium supplements taken account in estimating services
Major changes: Goods and services Charges for use of intellectual property, n.i.e.
Way Ahead A revised version will be prepared for BOPCOM’s agreement in November 2008, and then posted, subject to final editing, by end2008. Hardcopy publications expected during 2009
Conversion of Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook (BOPSY) and International Financial Statistics (IFS) As for BPM5, the intention is to convert the BOP data in both publications at the same time BOPCOM provisionally agreed on 2012/2013 as the range of possible dates for BOPSY conversion A firm date to be set at 2008 BOPCOM meeting A central element of the conversion to BPM5 was the conversion tables IMF staff have prepared a conversion table, mapping the BPM5 to the BPM6 presentation for use by member economies
Update of written material IMF staff to update the Compilation Guide and the Textbook to be in line with BPM6 The update of the Compilation Guide to be undertaken during The update of the Textbook, comprising a further elaboration of concepts and examples of particular types of transactions, is a longer-term project: Work could start on the Textbook once a final version of the Guide is posted on the website The External Debt Statistics Guide, the Guidelines for a Data Template (Guidelines), and the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services to be brought in line with BPM6
Other strategies The Fund intends to send a questionnaire to member countries in the course of 2009 on country implementation—similar to that undertaken in 1994— regarding action plans and specific implementation strategies issues especially difficult to implement topics for further assistance Such an exercise would be reported to the BOPCOM, and possible support strategies could be proposed
Cooperation with SNA At the request of the UNSC, the ISWGNA developed a strategy paper for the implementation of 2008 SNA The outlines of the implementation strategy being discussed include similar elements to those proposed for BPM6: training technical assistance dissemination of statistical guidance and applied research (papers addressing specific compilation issues)
Cooperation with SNA The implementation of BPM6 and 2008 SNA needs to be a coordinated effort, especially for significant issues such as Manufacturing services (goods for processing); merchanting; and FISIM, on which balance of payments compilers could draw from the experience of national accountants
Conclusion Significant work ahead to implement BPM6 The strategy builds on the successful BPM5 experience It is important to have close cooperation and dialogue among international agencies and with member countries