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So farewell, then a picture-like term for the small cleft of life against the “balance” part of double-enter accounting and international payment balance.
Official exchanges are functional and are often already used as synonyms. If it’s a little mysterious.
But at least this means that you have the latest update to the IMF’s Balance of Payments manual here! From a list of major fund changes to the premier guide to global macroeconomic statistics since the last official update in 2009:
The term “statistical inconsistency” is replaced with “net errors and abbreviations” (Section 2.25). . .
And if you go on to section 2.25 and beyond:
2.25 BOP accounts are, in principle, balanced, but imbalances result in practice from flaws in source data and compilation. This imbalance, a normal feature of BOP data, is labelled as a statistical inconsistency and must be identified separately in published data. Other items should not be included undisputedly. . .
. . . The term statistical inconsistency should not be interpreted as a compiler-side semantic error. This inconsistency is much more common to be caused by other factors, such as incomplete data sources and poor quality reports.
Ah, it’s not the same. It will take some time to get used to this.
The IMF manual also includes updates such as the balancing terms of cryptocurrency payment terms, central bank swaps, international reserve repo transactions, and the rise of “factoryless” manufacturing.
The latter term refers to things like Apple or other multinational companies that contract production in China. These definitions for balance of payments may be more important than usual on the eve of the World Trade War. Paging blood sessions.
Meanwhile, this manual shows that since 2009, it has taken on another disruptive force in global capital streams.
11.110 Free online platform users (mainly organized as commercial companies) can create content such as videos, images, text, audio, and more, and make it available on the platform. If a content creator receives compensation (income) from an advertiser (via the platform) that places advertisements next to content (or channel space) on the platform, it must be recorded as a supply of advertising services. A “free” platform collects fees from advertisers and passes them after deducting the fees for the service, but the content creator is treated as consuming the platform’s services rather than providing advertising services to the advertisers and providing services to the platform (see paragraphs 16.62-64 for more information about content created by platform users). . .
According to a footnote, “If a content creator receives compensation through a subscription or through a non-advertising means, the service must be included in audiovisual and related services.”
Of course, even if the relevant UN updates to National Accounts data are also ready, payment balance statistics will not change overnight. The IMF states, “countries are encouraged to implement both standards between 2029 and 2030.” So there may still be some net errors and omissions drooping.
