NOTES TO THE RELEASE
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT POSITION
 
GLOSSARY
The glossary is based on the Fifth edition of the International
Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments Manual, to which reference is
made for the complete definition of the various items. Under the
accounting convention adopted for the balance of payments,
transactions, such as imports, that give rise to a payment abroad are
classified as debits and those, such as exports, that give rise to a
receipt from abroad are classified as credits; balances are
calculated as the difference between credits and debits. In the
financial account, assets, recorded with a negative sign, comprise
residents' acquisitions of assets abroad, while liabilities, recorded
with a positive sign, comprise non-residents' acquisitions of assets
vis-à-vis residents; in the balance, an increase in net assets is
recorded with a negative sign.
CURRENT ACCOUNT
The current account includes all transactions that pertain to goods,
services, incomes and current transfers.
a. Goods.
Comprising General merchandise, Goods for processing, Repairs on
goods, Goods procured in ports by carriers and Non-monetary gold.
Goods are recorded according to the fob-fob definition, where by they
are valued at the frontier of the exporting country (foreign trade
statistics are typically compiled on the basis of the cif-fob
definition, whereby imports are valued at the frontier of the country
compiling the statistics).
b. Services.
Transportation includes freight and passenger transportation by all
modes of transportation and other distributive and auxiliary services,
such as loading and unloading and storage, the overhaul and cleaning
of means of equipment, shippers and agents fees. Freight insurance,
goods procured in ports by carriers, repairs and rentals of
transportation equipment without crew are excluded.
Travel covers goods and services acquired (or acquired on their
behalf or however supplied to them) by travellers who stay for less
than one year in a country in which they are not resident. This time
limit does not apply to students or medical patients; military,
government agency and embassy personnel and members of their families
are excluded.
Communications services cover postal, courier and telecommunications
services.
Construction services cover construction and installation project
work performed abroad by resident enterprises (and vice versa). Goods
imported and exported for construction works are included in this
item and not under goods.
Insurance services cover the provision to non-residents (and vice
versa) of services such as the insurance of goods exported and
imported and, more generally, life and non-life insurance and pension
funds. The amount includes the fee for the service provided and not
the total premium.
Financial services include commissions and fees for
resident/non-resident letters of credit, lines of credit, foreign
exchange transactions and intermediation involving financial assets,
etc.
Computer and information services cover resident/non-resident
transactions related to hardware consultancy, information services
(from data processing to news agency services), and maintenance and
repair of computer related equipment.
Royalties and license fees cover receipts (exports) and payments
(imports) of residents and non-residents for the use of non-financial
non-produced assets and proprietary rights.
Other business services cover merchanting and miscellaneous business,
professional and technical services.
Personal services cover personal, cultural and recreational services
provided to non-residents by residents (and vice versa). They include
services associated with the production of films, music, radio and
television programmes, and their distribution.
Government services cover services not included elsewhere associated
with governmental and international organizations and entities.
c. Income.
Compensation of employees covers wages, salaries and other benefits,
in cash or in kind and valued gross, paid to non-resident workers.
Investment income covers receipts and payments associated,
respectively, with holdings of external financial assets by residents
and with liabilities to non-residents.
d. Current transfers.
Current transfers are the offsets to changes, which take place
between residents and non-residents, in the ownership of real
resources and financial items. They do not include transfers of
ownership of fixed assets; transfers of funds linked to the
acquisition or disposal of fixed assets or the forgiveness of debts,
which are included under Capital transfers; they include both
transfers of a public nature and those of a private nature.
CAPITAL ACCOUNT
a. Capital transfers.
This item refers to transfers of ownership of fixed assets;
transfers of funds linked to the acquisition or disposal of fixed
assets and the forgiveness of debts; it includes both transfers of a
public nature and those of a private nature.
b. Intangible assets.
These include transactions involving the ownership (not the use) of
intangible assets such as patents and goodwill. Ownership rights to
land are excluded.
FINANCIAL ACCOUNT
a. Direct investment.
Direct investment covers the initial transaction between the
investor and the investee enterprise and all subsequent transactions
between them. Direct investment transactions are subclassified into
equity capital, reinvested earnings and other transactions between
the investor and the investee enterprise or with their affiliated
enterprises. The latter case (linked, for example, to loans between
affiliated companies) does not apply to banks, for which only equity
and subordinated debt transactions are included.
b. Portfolio investment.
This item covers transactions between residents and non-residents
involving equity securities and debt securities. Transactions covered
under direct investment are excluded.
c. Other investment.
This item covers trade credits, loans, deposits and other accounts
receivable and payable.
d. Derivatives.
This subitem covers transactions in financial derivatives.
e. Reserve assets.
The reserve assets of the European Central Bank and the national
central banks making up the Eurosystem refer to highly liquid,
marketable and creditworthy claims on non-residents of the euro area
denominated in foreign currency.
INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT POSITION
The international investment position indicates the stock of an
economy's financial assets and liabilities (in foreign and domestic
currency) with the rest of the world. The presentation format uses
the same classifying criteria as the financial account: functional
(assets/liabilities from direct investment, portfolio investment,
financial derivatives and other investment, and official reserves),
resident sector that holds the assets or issued the liabilities, and
instrument (for portfolio investment only).
The balance of payments and international investment position can be
reconciled. The change in the stock of external financial assets and
liabilities in a period is attributable to financial flows
(transactions on the financial account of the balance of payments)
and valuation adjustments (referring to the changes between the start
and the end of the period in exchange rates and the prices of
underlying assets and any other adjustments).
The sectorisation is as follows. "Monetary authorities": Bank of
Italy. "General government": central government, regional and local
government, social security funds. "Other monetary financial
institutions": banks, money market funds (included in the "Other
sectors" until June 2002), electronic money institutes, Cassa
depositi e prestiti spa. "Other sectors": non-financial enterprises,
households, non-profit-making institutions serving households, other
financial institutions not included in the "Other monetary financial
institutions" (securities-dealer companies and agencies, collective
investment institutions not considered as money market funds, other
financial institutions, insurance companies and pension funds).
DATA DISSEMINATION
The balance of payments data are normally released according to the
following calendar. The provisional data for month M of quarter Q are
published in the Supplement released about two months later (M+55
days). The first revision of these data is published four months
later (M+115 days), with the exception of some items (other services,
current transfers, capital account). A second revision is published
about 115 days after the end of reference quarter (Q+115 days) and it
concerns all the months of the quarter. Possible other revisions are
published in the June Supplement of the year after that of month M.
Moreover, during the months of May and October (definitive revision)
of year T, all the monthly figures for merchandise trade and
transportation in year T-1 are revised following the release of
updated foreign trade data by Istat. The revised data are published
as soon as possible. The dissemination of international investment
position data normally occurs according to the following calendar:
first provisional data are published about 115 days after the end of
the reference period; revised data are disseminated about 6 months
later. For quarterly external debt, first provisional data are
published about 90 days after the end of the reference quarter;
revised data are disseminated about 3 months later.
SOURCES
The new data collection system for the compilation of Italian balance
of payments, which started with effect from September 2010, uses a
setof different sources: (a) censuses, such as the statistical reports
ofentities supervised by the Bank of Italy; (b) sample surveys, with
special reference to those carried out at non-financial corporations
and insurance corporations; and (c) administrative data collected for
other than statistical purposes, in order to comply with legal
obligations.
Sample surveys are the source of data for transactions in travel,
transportation services, reinvested earnings and for some items of the
Italian international investment position. Transactions in goods are
obtained from the National Statistical Institute (ISTAT) foreign trade
statistics. The latter use as source of data the Intra-Community Trade
Statistical System (INTRASTAT) for intra-EU transactions and the
customs declarations for extra-EU transactions.
Information about assets and liabilities stocks of the Italian
banking system, necessary to compile the international investment
position, is derived from "Matrice dei Conti"; moreover, this source
supplies data on the - anonymous - security-by-security reporting of
the portfolio  stocks held for investors by depositories (as provided
for in Guidelines ECB/2004/15 and ECB/2007/3). This monthly stocks
data collection constitutes also the basis for the calculation of
portfolio flows and investment incomes.
Other information useful to compile the Italian balance of payments
and international investment position is derived from the statistical
reports of other financial intermediaries, concerning stock and flow
data and information about their portfolios and customer repurchase
agreements.
As regards sample surveys, together with those regarding
international travel and merchandise transport conducted since the
second half of the nineties, a direct reporting system is established
for non-financial and insurance corporations about their transactions
with the rest of the world. The sample is composed by about 7,000
Italian companies, selected on the basis of their size and total
volume of business with the rest of the world; for some kind of
transactions, they are selected also on the basis of their
geographical location and of the presence/absence of foreign
affiliates. Both non-financial (services, some types of transfers and
labour incomes) and financial transactions are collected, together
with financial stocks. The periodicity of the measurements varies from
quarterly to annual, except for a small sample of about 300
larger corporations, whose data are collected on a monthly basis in
order to capture the evolution of highly volatile financial phenomena.
Moreover, another exception regards the reporting of significant
transactions in direct investment (inward and outward), which are
transmitted within one month from the end of the reference period.
As regards workers' remittances, the data source is constituted by
the reports sent by the money transfer operators, by the banks and
other financial intermediaries that offer this kind of service, as
well as by post offices, regarding money transfer operations among
physical persons, from or to abroad. This data collection is
established since 2006 (since 2010 for banks).
Administrative sources: a set of additional data sources used to
collect information about specific items of the Italian balance of
payments and international investment position:
Ministry of Finance, as a direct reporter about: a) foreign assets
and liabilities of the Public Administration; b) income statements by
physical persons, concerning foreign financial assets and investment
incomes; c) anonymous data regarding settlements from/to abroad, with
a 12,500 euro threshold, carried out by Italian physical persons,
non-commercial and other minor societies by means of banks, other
financial intermediaries and post offices, and reported yearly to the
Revenue Agency.
National Institute of Social Security (INPS): information about
pensions paid abroad to non-residents and contributions received
from abroad.
 
 
 
NOTES TO THE TABLE TIAA0300:
The periodicity of the data is annual until end-1998, semi-annual
until end-2003, quarterly from 2004. With effect from end-2007,
Italy's international investment position is published on the basis of
a new statistical data collection and compilation system. The series
prior to end-2007 have been revised to provide continuity with the new
data. With effect from end-2008 data, portfolio investment stocks are
calculated on the basis of an anonymous security-by-security reporting
of the stocks held for investors by depositories (as provided for in
Guidelines ECB/2004/15 and ECB/2007/3).
Due to the conventions adopted in the recording of intercompany debt
transactions, the foreign direct investment account may display
negative stocks. When a subsidiary finances its foreign direct
investor, the amount is recorded as a net disposal of inward direct
investment made by non-residents, thus reducing the outstanding stock.
 
 
 
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NOTES TO THE OBSERVATION
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