1. Balance of payments and related statistics: a European perspective Rodrigo Oliveira-Soares Dublin, 23 February 2012 The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ECB.

2. 2 Outline Introduction ECB Monetary policy Monitoring macroeconomic imbalances Macroeconomic oversight Euro area statistics

3. 3 Introduction "a body of methods for making wise decisions in the face of uncertainty." Wilson Allen Wallis (1912–1998), US economist and statistician.

4. 4 Monetary policy of the ECB

5. 5 Relationship between balance of payments and international investment position

6. 6 Monetary policy of the ECB Euro area as a whole  Risks to price stability  Flows affecting monetary conditions and exchange rate markets  Macroeconomic projections  Quarterly sector accounts

7. 7 Monetary policy of the ECB Euro area as a whole  Balance of payments  Monthly  Quarterly vs. main counterparts  International investment position  Quarterly  Annual vs. main counterparts  Data in public data warehouse http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/

8. 8 Monitoring of macroeconomic imbalances Current-account balances, euro-area Member States (as % of GDP) – Surplus and deficit countries Source: European Commission

9. 9 Monitoring of macroeconomic imbalances Source: European Commission

10. 10 Monitoring of macroeconomic imbalances Improve EU economic governance  Alert mechanism to prevent and correct imbalances. Early warning system based on 10 economic indicators of competitiveness, among which:  Current account balance  Net international investment position  Export market shares of goods and services

11. 11 Macroeconomic oversight of the financial system

12. 12 Macroeconomic oversight of the financial system Independent EU body  reduce systemic risks to financial stability  avoid financial distress  smooth functioning of the internal market Set of indicators (White Book), including:  Current account balance  Gross external debt  Net interest payments

13. 13 Statistics for the euro area as a whole How do we gather statistics?  Transactions and positions with non-residents (“extra”)  17 countries + ECB own accounts  ECB Guideline and Recommendation  Portfolio investment –security-by-security –centralised database

14. 14 Statistics for the euro area as a whole Implementation of new standards by 2014  Timely quarterly statistics  Consistency with national accounts  Relevance of the international investment position  Financial intermediaries  Investment fund shares  Listed / non-listed equity

15. 15 Thank you for your attention Questions?