The International Accounts is a quarterly publication incorporating the Balance of International Payments, International Investment Position and External Debt statistics.
International Accounts provides users with a quarterly statement of our economic flows with the rest of the world and Ireland’s stocks of foreign financial assets and liabilities.
The balance of payments (BOP) is a statistical statement that systematically summarises, for a specific time period, the economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. The balance of payments is concerned with transactions and therefore deals with flows rather than with stocks. The international investment position (IIP) statement provides information on the latter.
The balance of payments consists of three accounts, the current account, the capital account and the financial account.
The current account consists of trade in merchandise and services, income inflows and outflows and current transfers.
The capital account covers capital transfers and the acquisition and disposal of non-produced, non-financial assets.
The financial account is concerned with transactions in foreign financial assets and liabilities, distinguishing the functional type of investment i.e. direct, portfolio and other investment (including transactions in financial derivatives) and reserve assets.
Information is published in the form of a quarterly publication, International Accounts.