Balance of Payments

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External Economy, Economic Statistics
Maria José Alvarez Pelaez
+45 30 66 03 21

Get documentation of statistics as pdf

Balance of Payments 2025

Omlægning af tabeller om betalingsbalance og udenrigshandel i Statistikbanken juni 2024 (pdf) (in Danish only)

The balance of payments describes the economic transactions between Denmark and the rest of the world. The main components are the import and export of goods and services, the surplus (or deficit) of the current account and the net worth (or net debt) respect to the rest of the world. The balance of payments statistics is compiled in cooperation with Danmarks Nationalbank

Statistical presentation

The balance of payments records the value of the economic transactions on a monthly basis between the Danish balance of payments area and the rest of the world. There are three main accounts: the current account (trade in goods and services, primary and secondary income), the capital account (capital transfers and acquisition/disposal of non-produced, nonfinancial assets between residents and non-residents) and the financial account (transactions that involve financial assets and liabilities between residents and non-residents). The statistics show the geographical distribution (counterpart countries). Danmarks Nationalbank compiles the financial account and the investment income of the Danish balance of payments.

Statistical processing

The statistics are primarily compiled based on other statistics. The data sources are used directly and as a basis for calculations of developments. Validation of the sources mainly occurs during the preparation of other statistics, but special validations are carried out across selected sources to ensure consistency between the sources. The validation particularly targets businesses' international organisation of production. The data sources are processed so that monthly balance of payments statistics can be produced, even if some sources are compiled quarterly or annually.

Relevance

The publication of the balance of payments, particularly the monthly dissemination, often attracts significant public interest. Ministries, politicians and centers for economic analysis are the main users of the statistics. The balanced of payments is also used in the compilation of national accounts as it is the rest of the world sector.

Accuracy and reliability

The compilation of the balance of payment is mainly based on other statistics. Accordingly, the accuracy of the balance of payments statistics is very much dependent upon these statistics. Coverage is high, as there is a particular focus on coverage in the largest data sources, i.e. the international trade in goods statistics (ITGS) and the international trade in services statistics (ITSS). Ongoing validations are performed. The calculations and model assumptions in the compilation are not considered to affect the overall accuracy of the main items in the balance of payments.

Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics are published quarterly, approximately 40 days after the end of the reference period. Main results are published monthly, approximately 40 days after the end of the relevant month. The final statistics are published approximately three years after the end of the reference period. The statistics are published on the announced time.

Comparability

The balance of payments has been compiled since 1934, with a continuous time series available since 2005. The compilation of the statistics follows the IMF's manual BPM6. There is thus comparability with other countries following the same manual and back to 2005. For the detailed items, there is no comparability with the series before 2005. The statistics on International Trade in Services are directly included in the compilation of the balance of payments. For International Trade in Goods, there are methodological differences, so there is a discrepancy between the two statistics. The statistics is part of the national accounts and is directly included as the rest of the world sector in the sector account of the national accounts.

Accessibility and clarity

The latest figures are published in a monthly news article "Nyt from Statistics Denmark," and all figures can be found in the Statistics Bank. The balance of payments also has dedicated homepage.

These statistics are published monthly in a Danish press release, at the same time as the tables are updated in the StatBank. In the StatBank, these statistics can be found under the subject [skriv niveau-3-emne på en-gelsk](https://www.statbank.dk/kode for niveau 3). For further information, go to the subject page emnesidens navn på en-gelsk.