Most sites usually deal in one country at a time. If you want a fairly good overview of ALL countries, however, the best place you can look is probably the International Monetary Fund. They generate documents detailing the most minute of things in regards to international economics, from balance of payment sheets to investment positions to many things far beyond as well.

And every heading is just an entry away in a text box. Pretty simple stuff.

It’s about time you got started. Here’s the page they have provided for Balance of Payments; see if you can find the current balance of your country of choice somewhere on it. And once you’re done feel free to check out any of their other documents - or, you know, just come back here and keep reading. Your choice.

Japan is one of the biggest producers of goods in the world, particularly in the field of electronics. And though there are occasional dips and rises in their numbers most of the time Japan stays well within the green zone as its trading partners continue to rely on their products. And as the income surplus continues to grow - which it is doing each year - Japan’s condition can only continue to improve.

Will their service industry ever improve accordingly? Possibly. There’s no reason to think that Japan’s ignoring its service industry. But the huge advantage afforded by the production of goods is more than enough to shuffle service improvements onto a back burner of sorts.

The central bank had previously posted an enormous $1.93 billion surplus on the Balance of Trade, though all that changed in June after one severe update.

According to the manager of the central bank the deficit is symptomatic of an outflow of foreign investments in the country, a marked change from the previous influx that made for the surplus.

But what about the rest of the world? Are there any other major players hit with a deficit at the moment? There are, in fact. Some of the most influential countries in the world outside the United States have been hit with an uneven Balance of Payments.

In Europe you have no less than France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, among other countries. Asia has India and a slew of other smaller countries stuck in a similar rut. Africa’s Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique feel the sting. And, if that didn’t make you feel better, Australia has a trade deficit as well.

Granted, these are statistics from 2005. But given how long it can take to get the numbers headed in the opposite direction most of these countries are likely to still be stuck in the same position.

Care to learn what it is? You’ve come to the right place. Balance of payments is, simply put, the measure of the flow of money between one country and another. It summarizes a country’s transactions with other countries over the course of a year and then sets that amount out in a report. These transactions are usually carried out via imports and exports, both in the form of goods and services.

So how’s the US Balance of Payments looking these days? Not that great. They’ve been running on a deficit for years now, at least in regards to their current account. This gap has slowly been closing over the last few years, however, as US exports increase.

Released every year – both offline and online, as a free downloadable .pdf – the Pink Book is the definitive source for information on the UK Balance of Payments for each year. Perfect for data and analyses, the Pink Book provides not only estimates on the UK Balance of Payments but information on trade in goods (and services!) plus the financial account and the UK’s current International Investment Position.

The book can be ordered in hard copy for £49.50 from a number of financial sites (mainly National Statistics), and as previously mentioned on the National Statistics website as a free download. Unless you intend to spend a lot of time with spreadsheets at your kitchen table working away, you’re probably better off just downloading a copy.

The Renminbi is China’s local currency. The policy package being looked at by the Chinese Government also includes an exchange rate-molding mechanism that will improve the exchange rate of the Renminbi.
Some foreign analysts have indicated that the importance of the exchange rate of the Renminbi has been enormously exaggerated.

Experts from China and other countries stated that the exchange rate is not the cure-all for balance of payment surpluses but that organized actions from both foreign and domestic exchange regulators are needed.

The overall balance of payments (BOP) at the end of December was a surplus of $377 million , this is a small increase on the previous year similar period of $347 million.

• Merchandise exports increased by US $2.4 billion (22.8%)
• Non-oil exports increased by 26.2%
• Oil exports increased by 19.1%
• Merchandise imports increased by US $ 7.1 billion (41.2%)
• Services surplus was $ US 6.8 billion (last year US $ 5.6 billion)
• Tourism revenues rose 30.1% (up to $5.6 billion)
• Suez Canel revenue increased to US $ 2.5 billion (increase of 24.6%)
• Net Unrequited transfer increased to US $ 4.2 billion (42.5% increase)

Capital & Financial Account

• FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) increased from US$ 7.2 billion to $ 7.8 billion
• Privatization Proceeds was US $1.4 billion compared to US $2.6 billion last year