! ! ! Please note that some links below are old, and hence might be outdated and/or broken; the latest versions of the data structure definitions and the related documents can be found on the SDMX-BoP maintenance page ! ! !

1. Introduction

The Steering Group for SDMX implementation in Balance of Payments is pleased to inform you that the inter-agency work on developing integrated SDMX data structure definitions (DSDs) for external sector statistics based on the latest international standards (the IMF Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6) and the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment - 4th Edition), has been finalised and is now ready for release on 1 October 2013.

Under the guidance of a Steering Group with representatives of ECB, Eurostat and IMF, a Technical Group (TG), comprised of representatives from the BIS, ECB, Eurostat, IMF, and OECD developed the balance of payments DSD (BOP-DSD) and foreign direct investment DSD (FDI-DSD) in close coordination with seven external sector statistics domain groups. From the start, it had been agreed that the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPCOM) would provide the forum to review and approve the subject-matter issues related to the BOP-DSD, including its final approval, while the OECD Working Group on International Investment Statistics (WGIIS) provided the forum for approving the FDI-DSD. The TG conducted two formal rounds of review, a content review during July-August 2012 and a pilot implementation during December 2012-June 2013, reaching out to members of the European System of Central Banks’ Working Group on External Statistics and Statistics Committee, Eurostat’s Balance of Payments Working Group, OECD’s Working Group on International Investment Statistics and Working Party on Trade in Goods and Services, IMF’s Committee Balance of Payments Statistics, and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services. These consultations provided the opportunity to review and address countries’ comments and contributed substantially to improving the DSDs. On behalf of the agencies involved in the development, we would like to express our sincerest thanks to all those who contributed to this work.

The documents related to the final version of the BOP-DSD v1.0 (BOP-DSD V1.0_20130930) and the FDI-DSD v1.0 (FDI-DSD V1.0_20130930) consist of the following:

- BoP DSD v1.0_20130930 : Excel workbook showing the dimensions of the DSD and associated code lists
- BoP DSD v1.0 Guidelines : Guidelines for using the dimensions of the DSD in time series keys
- BPM6_DATA_CODIFICATION : codification of data requests of ECB, Eurostat, IMF and OECD
- FDI DSD V1.0_20130930 : Excel workbook showing the dimensions of the DSD and associated code lists
- FDI DSD V1.0 Guidelines : Guidelines for using the dimensions of the DSD in time series keys
- FDI_IO_ DATA_REQUEST_CODIFICATION : codification of data requests of Eurostat, IMF (CDIS) and OECD
- Report on Finalisation of DSDs for External Sector Statistics

2. The Data Structure Definitions

The DSDs and related SDMX artefacts are available from the SDMX Global Registry (https://registry.sdmx.org:8443/FusionRegistry/maintenance-tool.html). The DSDs can be downloaded through the links below (either in SDMX-ML V2.0 or in SDMX-ML V2.1 format). No authentication is required for the registry.

Table 1. BOP and FDI Data Structure Definitions

DSD & Download	DSD Title	Maintenance Agency
BOP 2.0 / 2.1	Balance of Payments	IMF
FDI 2.0 / 2.1	Foreign Direct Investment	OECD

3. Maintenance agreements

The SDMX-NA and SDMX-BOP Steering Groups also prepared in close cooperation the maintenance agreement for the SDMX artefacts with regard to the Balance of Payments, Foreign Direct Investment, and National Accounts DSDs.[2] This draft agreement proposes an annual maintenance cycle. The maintenance cycle is aligned between those three domains. Smaller changes of the abovementioned DSDs and related SDMX artefacts might take place in December 2013 and/or April 2014, mainly due to bug fixing issues. Table 2 presents the maintenance agencies for the various DSDs for global use, the major stakeholders, update cycle, and where the related SDMX artefacts can be found. Table 3 provides an overview of the maintenance agencies for a subset of the code lists that are shared across the BOP, FDI, and NA DSDs.

Table 2. Overview of Maintenance Structure for DSDs for Global Use

Name	Ownership	Maintenance	Major Stakeholders	Update(s)	Registry
BOP – Balance of Payments	BIS, ECB, Eurostat, IMF, OECD, UNSD, World Bank	IMF	BOPCOM	Annual and fast-track	SDMX Global Registry
FDI – Direct Investment		OECD	WGIIS	Annual and fast-track	SDMX Global Registry
NA – National Accounts		Eurostat	ISWGNA	Annual and fast-track	SDMX Global Registry

Table 3. Overview of Maintenance Agencies for Shared Code lists (BOP, FDI, NA)

Code list ID	Concept(s)	Used by	Maintenance
CL_ACCOUNTING_ENTRY	Types of accounting entries	BOP, NA, FDI	IMF
CL_INSTR_ASSET	Instrument and assets classification	BOP, NA, FDI	Eurostat
CL_MATURITY	Original and residual maturity	BOP, NA	Eurostat
CL_SECTOR	Institutional sector in the reference country or areaCounterpart institutional sector	BOP, NA, FDI	Eurostat

4. Communication Strategy

As outlined above, the documents relating to the release of the SDMX DSDs for Balance of Payments and Foreign Direct Investment have been published through the SDMX website (http://www.sdmx.org) on 1 October 2013. If additional question arise please address these questions to the Project Coordinator for the Balance of Payments DSD, René Piché (Rpiche@imf.org).
[1] This is expected by the end of 2013, beginning of 2014. [2] This includes the DSDs themselves, the associated code lists, and the versioning principles for these artefacts.