Balance of Payments and External Position

General notes

In most respects the Slovenian Balance of Payments and International Investment Position conforms to the methodology of the IMF’s 'Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual', sixth edition (2009). External Debt is based on 'External Debt Statistics Guide for Compilers and Users' which is harmonised with the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual.

The b.o.p. is organised in three main accounts:

• current account;
• capital account;
• financial account.

The current account shows flows of goods, services, and income between residents and non-residents. The capital account shows flows of non-produced non-financial assets, and capital transfers between residents and non-residents. The financial account shows net acquisitions and disposals of financial assets and liabilities grouped into five functional categories:

• direct investment;
• portfolio investment;
• financial derivatives;
• reserve assets;
• other investment.

In addition to “normal” financial assets/liabilities, it also includes land, other real estate properties (e.g. dwellings) and other immovable assets which are:

• physically located outside the economic territory of an economy and owned by residents of this economy; or
• physically located inside the economic territory of an economy and owned by non-residents.

The sum of the current and capital accounts balances corresponds to the net lending (surplus) or net borrowing (deficit) of an economy vis-à-vis the rest of the world. The same concept can be derived from the financial account as net acquisitions of financial assets minus net incurrence of liabilities. 

Although the balance of payments accounts are, in principle, balanced, imbalances result in practice from imperfections in source data and compilation. This imbalance, a usual feature of balance of payments data, is labelled net errors and omissions and is identified separately in published data.Net errors and omissions are derived residually as net lending/net borrowing and can be derived from the financial account minus the same item derived from the current and capital accounts.

Therefore, a positive value of net errors and omissions indicates an overall tendency that:

a. the value of credits in the current and capital accounts is too low; and/or
b. the value of debits in the current and capital accounts is too high; and/or
c the value of net increases in assets in the financial account is too high; and/or
d. the value of net increases in liabilities in the financial account is too low.

For a negative value of net errors and omissions, these tendencies are reversed.

International investment position

The international investment position (i.i.p.) is a statistical statement that shows, at a specific point in time, the value of the stocks of residents’ financial assets that are non-contingent claims on non-residents in that economy or gold bullion held as reserve assets, and of the non-contingent liabilities of the residents to non-residents in that economy. As in the b.o.p. financial account, financial assets and liabilities are grouped into the five functional categories.

The difference between the financial assets and liabilities is the net i.i.p. and represents either a net claim on or a net liability to non-residents. Changes in the i.i.p. between consecutive periods can be due to transactions, as recorded in the b.o.p. financial account during that period, but also due to other flows.

External debt

Associated with the i.i.p. is the concept of gross external debt, which is the outstanding amount of those actual current, and not contingent, liabilities that require payment(s) of principal and/or interest by the debtor at some point(s) in the future and that are owed to non-residents by residents of an economy. External debt assets are derived from i.i.p. and contain claims to non-resident(s) that are in a form of debt instruments that require payment(s) of principal and/or interest by the debtor at some point(s) in the future. A net external debt concept is derived by subtracting gross external assets in debt instruments from the gross external debt concept. The concept of “debt” does not include equity instruments and financial derivatives.

Gross external debt disclosed on a 'public sector based approach' contains two components; public and publicly guaranteed debt and non-guaranteed private sector external debt. Public and publicly guaranteed debt contains debt liabilities of sectors S.13, S.121 and all liabilities of other sectors if they are guaranteed by a public sector unit. Non-guaranteed private sector external debt contains all other liabilities to non residents.

Institutional sectors – data are grouped into four sectors:

Central bank (S.121)

Banks (S.122)

General government (S.13)

Other sectors (S.11, S.123, S.124, S.125, S.126, S.127, S.128, S.129, S.14, S.15)

Other sectors within the item Capital transfers includes all sectors except the government sector (S.13).

Characteristics of the Data

Current account and capital account items have always positive sign, balance of these accounts represents the difference between receipts and expenditures or exports and imports and has the appropriate sign (positive or negative).

Positive sign of financial account items stands for increase of assets and/or liabilities, negative sign reflects decrease. Balance of financial account is the difference between assets and liabilities.

Dissemination and Revision Policy

Revisions of balance of payments, the international investment position and gross external debt data occur as follows:

• monthly data for balance of payments and external debt relating to the month m are published with m + 6 weeks lag. At the same time all monthly data of the corresponding year are revised.
• quarterly data for international investment position relating to the quarter q are published with q + 10 weeks lag. At the same time all quarterly data of the corresponding year are revised.

Back data revisions relating to years (y-1) and (y-2) occur in the second half or the current year (y), in case of major methodological changes longer time series can be revised as well.

Data sources

The external trade statistics (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia) is the main source of data on trade in goods. Since 1 May 2004, the source of data on trade in goods among Slovenia and EU Member States is the Intrastat reporting. The source of data on trade in goods with other countries is the single administrative document (Exstrastat reporting).

Reports on trade in services, part of trade in goods and on current/capital transfers with nonresidents (BST) are the sources of data on services (excl. travel), data on coverage adjustments of goods item and data on current and capital transfers (excl. transfers with EU budget) from 2008 onwards.

Reports on transactions with securities (VRP) and data from the Securities Clearing Corporation (KDD) are the sources of portfolio investments (debt and equity securities). Also they were the source for financial derivatives (from September 2003 till the end of 2006).

Data regarding drawn/un-drawn credit transactions from foreign credit registration forms (KR) were the source of data on loans of all sectors until 2004; in 2005 and 2006 they were the source only for the non-banking sector.

Reports on credits received and granted and deposits with non-residents (KRD) are the source for data regarding loans and deposit of all sectors, except banks, since 2007. From August 2017, as part of the KRD, also following data is reported:

• short-term trade credits and advances (previously reported under the SKV report),
• investments in foreign debt securities that are carried out without domestic intermediaries (previously reported under the DVP report) and are non-listed,
• less than 10% of equity in the capital of resident companies that are not joint stock companies,
• less than 10% of the equity in the capital of non-listed non-resident companies,
• equity shares in the international organizations.

Reports on monetary financial institutions (PORFI) are the source for data of the banking sector since 2005. PORFI is a source for data on loans, cash and deposits, trade credits, other accounts receivable/payable, financial derivatives and income data (interest).

Annual reports on investments (SN) are the source for reinvested earnings and equity positions of direct investments until 2007. From 2008 onwards monthly reports on investments (SN-T) are source also for all other direct investment transactions in equity and related income. Until 2017 for equity securities investments, carried out without domestic authorized intermediaries, also this source was used. Since August 2017, this type of investments in equity securities are reported under the KRD report. From 2018 SN and SN-T reports are based on amended reporting criteria: that the share of ownership (shares or other equity) in a foreign company or a foreign company in Slovenia is 10% or more. As of January 2023, the reporting threshold is EUR 5 million of the balance sheet total. An estimate is included for data below the reporting threshold.

Report on Modern Payment Instruments (SPI) is the source for data on acquisition of fuel by non-resident transport operators at Slovene petrol stations settled via payment cards of foreign issuers from 2008 onwards.

Accounting data of the Bank of Slovenia

Budget data on the transactions of government sector between the Republic of Slovenia and EU (from 2004 onwards)

Quarterly data on financial account's statistics are source for financial derivatives for all sectors except the central bank (from 2007 onwards). For banks this data source was used until 2010 (in 2011 it was replaced by PORFI).

Reports on short-term receivables and liabilities from operations with non-residents (SKV) were a source of short-term trade credits and advances from 2002 to July 2017. From August 2017 short-term trade credits and advances are reported under the KRD report.

Reports on purchased / sold foreign debt securities past domestic brokers (DVPs) were the source for the portfolio investment in foreign debt securities that are carried out without domestic brokers, from 2007 to July 2017. From August 2017, this type of portfolio investment is reported under the KRD report.

Reports on account balances and transactions between residents and non-residents (C, PPT, PPV):

• report on account balances at domestic banks – PPV (until 31 December 2004),
• report on account balances abroad – C (until 31 December 2006),
• report on transactions through accounts at domestic banks – PPT (until 31 December 2008),
• report on transactions through accounts abroad – C (until 31 December 2008).

All banks which conducted international payment transactions and all residents with open accounts abroad were obliged to report. The resident issuer/beneficiary of the payment was obliged to forward data on the type of transaction. From 2009 to March 2014 banks which conduct international payment transactions reported only transactions that exceeded threshold EUR 50.000. From April 2014 onwards banks report all payments without transaction codes. Data are used for quality control purposes only.

Accounting data of banks (KNB) until 2010

Estimates and other sources

• estimate of labour income (SORS),
• data on pensions paid to non-residents (ZPIZ),
• survey on the write-downs of debt from trade in goods and services abroad,
• estimates for exports and imports of travel - from 2005 onwards (detailed explanation under item Travel),
• quarterly data on consumption of foreign embassies in Slovenia (SORS, from 2008 onwards),
• migrants' transfers - outflows (bilateral data between countries, from 2008 onwards),
• households' transfers (SORS, from 2008 onwards),
• assets acquired directly by tenders and programs of EU (SORS, from 2008 onwards),
• data on non-residents' investments in real-estate in Slovenia (GURS, from 2008 onwards),
• data on purchases/sales of real-estate in Croatia (Croatian National Bank, from 2008 onwards),
• data on direct investment of Slovene households in the form of real estate abroad (main data source Household Budget Survey, SORS),
• data on purchases/sales of emission allowances between residents and non-residents (Slovenian Environment Agency, from 2008 until 2011. From 2012 onwards data is collected by BST monthly report),
• data on loans of households borrowed from the banks abroad (Austria, Italy, Germany) are included from 2012 onwards. The source is ECB database,
• an estimate of reinvested earnings of investment funds based on the variable "Accrued income factor (AIF)" from CSDB (Central Securities Data Base) from 2015 on,
• data on illegal trade – import of drugs (SORS),
• estimate of on-line purchases of goods (from 2010 onwards),
• estimate of purchases of foreign currency and cheques from foreigners in exchange offices - part of the travel category–(until 2004),
• estimate of expenditures on travel abroad including purchases of goods abroad (until 2004),
• estimate of Italian pensions (IMAD, until the end of 1998),
• estimate of transactions with foreign currencies and the deposits of Slovene households (until 2006).

Data sources for the international investment position of Slovenia are mainly the same as those for the financial account of the balance of payments.

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Definition of concepts

Current account items

The current account consists of flows in goods, services, primary and secondary income.

Goods

Component of goods covers moveable goods for which a change of ownership occurs between residents and non-residents. It comprises general merchandise, net exports of goods under merchanting and non-monetary gold.

General merchandise on a balance of payments basis covers goods for which a change of economic ownership occurs between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in other specific categories, such as goods under merchanting and non-monetary gold.

Data regarding general goods are obtained from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS). Prior to Slovenia’s accession to the EU data were available from standard customs documents. Since 1 May 2004, data are available from single administrative documents for trade in goods with non-EU countries and from Intrastat reports for trade with EU Member States.

Adjustments of CIF/FOB – data on import by CIF value are adjusted to FOB value with the help on the basis of a coefficient which is equal to the weighted average of coefficients between CIF and FOB values of the goods imported (in an available sample).

Coverage adjustments include data for goods exported and imported without customs declarations (the ITRS source until 2007, the reports of duty free shops and consignment warehouses until 2005, BST reports as source from 2008 onwards). Since 1 May 2004, coverage adjustments also include estimated data on imports of motor vehicles from EU by natural persons not covered by Intrastat System. Included are also estimates of fuel purchase in Slovenia by foreign carriers (from 2008 on) and estimates of import of drugs (source SORS).

Net exports of goods under merchanting is defined as the purchase of goods by a resident (of the compiling economy) from a non-resident, combined with the subsequent resale of the same goods to another non-resident without the goods being present in the compiling economy. Net exports of goods under merchanting represent the difference between sales over purchases of goods for merchanting. This item includes merchants' margins, holding gains and losses, and changes in inventories of goods under merchanting.

Non-monetary gold presents all gold other than monetary gold. Monetary gold is owned by monetary authorities and held as a reserve asset.

Services

Services are the result of a production activity that changes the conditions of the consuming units, or facilitates the exchange of products or financial assets. Services are not generally separate items over which ownership rights can be established and cannot generally be separated from their production.

Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others covers processing, assembly, labelling, packing, and so forth, undertaken by enterprises that do not own the goods concerned. The manufacturing is undertaken by an entity that receives a fee from the owner.

Maintenance and repair services not included elsewhere comprise maintenance and repair work by residents on goods that are owned by non-residents (and vice versa). The repairs may be performed at the site of the repairer or elsewhere. The value of maintenance and repairs includes any parts or materials supplied by the repairer and included in the charges.

Transport is the process of carriage of people and objects from one location to another, as well as related supporting and auxiliary services. Transport also includes postal and courier services. Transport services are recorded in balance of payments when provided by residents of one economy for the benefit of those of another. Transport services are in the first place divided on the basis of the type of transport (for instance: sea transport) and further by the subject of transport (passenger, freight, other).

Travel as a service covers goods and services for own use, or to give away, acquired from an economy by non-residents during visits to that economy.

Methodology for including travel data:

• methodology until 2004: The ITRS sources used in the compilation of the “Incoming travel” category include: a.) health and education-related services; b.) payments made by non-residents to Slovenian tourist agencies; c.) net withdrawals in tolars from non-resident accounts; d.) money spent in casinos by non-residents; e.) data on sales of goods to non-residents in duty-free shops and consignment warehouses; f.) payments with credit cards; and g.) sales of tolars to non-residents abroad. The data on sales of tolars to non-residents in Slovenia are estimated based on the number of border crossings by foreign travellers and on the number of nights spent in the country by foreign tourists. Data for the category “Expenditure on travel” come from the ITRS and estimations.
• since 2005 onwards:

Main data sources to estimate the export of travel are the following surveys and researches conducted by Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS):

• Survey on foreign tourists is used to define the structure of foreign tourists according to their primary aim of travel (business travel, health care, education, other) and expenditures of each type of foreign tourists.
• Survey on foreign travellers (to define the structure of travellers broken down by same-day travellers and transit travellers and their respective expenditures).
• Arrivals and over-night stays of foreign tourists broken down by countries of their residency (monthly survey).
• Number of border crossings (to define the population of foreigners entering Slovenia).

Based on data sources and correction with price indexes the following six categories of data are calculated and finally broken down by countries using data on mobile phone operators;

• Business travel,
• Health - related travel,
• Education,
• Other,
• Same-day travellers,
• Transit travellers.

Main data source to estimate the import of travel is SORS's survey TU_ČAP (Quarterly survey on travel of domestic citizens). The Survey provides the value of expenditures of domestic population travelling abroad (same-day trips and longer trips) and the amount spent for transportation to and from the foreign destination, which is then subtracted from total expenditures in order to avoid double counting (since it is already included in transport services). Additional sources for the estimation of one-day travellers are the number of border crossings (crossings of residents of Slovenia) and bilateral data from neighbouring countries.

Based on TU_ČAP data source the following five categories of data are calculated and finally broken down by countries using data on mobile phone operators;

• Business travel,
• Health - related travel,
• Education,
• Other,
• Same-day travellers.

Construction comprises the creation, renovation, repair or extension of fixed assets in the form of buildings, land improvements of an engineering nature and other engineering constructions (including roads, bridges, dams, etc.). It includes related installation and assembly work, site preparation and general construction, specialised services such as painting, plumbing and demolition, and management of construction projects.

Insurance and pension services cover the provision of various types of insurance to non-residents by resident insurance enterprises, and vice versa. These services are estimated or valued by the service charges included in total premiums rather than by the total value of the premiums. They cover direct insurance, reinsurance, auxiliary insurance services, pension and standardised guarantee services. Direct insurance is further divided into life insurance, freight insurance and other direct insurance.

Premiums on life and non-life insurance are split into two components: (i) the service charge included in insurance services; and (ii) the premium in a narrow sense, recorded as a current transfer. Insurance services include commissions of insurance companies and of premium payments (until 2007 25%, from 2008 on 45%). Insurance claims and other part of nonlife insurance premiums are included in primary income, claims and part of life insurance premiums represent assets/liabilities of financial account.

Financial services cover intermediary and auxiliary services, except insurance and pension fund services, usually provided by banks and other financial corporations.

• Explicitly charged and other financial services: Services are charged for by explicit charges in the case of many financial services and require no special calculation. They include fees for deposit-taking and lending, fees for one-off guarantees, early or late repayment fees or penalties, account charges, fees related to letters of credit, credit card services, commissions and charges related to financial leasing, factoring, underwriting, and clearing of payments. Also included are financial advisory services, custody of financial assets or bullion, financial asset management, monitoring services, liquidity provision services, risk assumption services (other than insurance), merger and acquisition services, credit rating services, stock exchange services and trust services.
• Financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM): Lenders and deposit-takers operate by providing rates of interest to their depositors that are lower than the rates that they charge to their borrowers. The resulting interest margins are used by the financial corporations to defray their expenses and to provide an operating surplus.

Charges for the use of intellectual property include charges for the use of proprietary rights (such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial processes and designs including trade secrets and franchises), and charges for licences to reproduce or distribute intellectual property embodied in produced originals or prototypes (such as copyrights on books and manuscripts, computer software, cinematographic works, and sound recordings) and related rights (such as for live performances and television, cable, or satellite broadcast).

Telecommunication, computer and information services: Telecommunications services encompass the transmission of sound, images or other information by telephone, telex, telegram, radio and television cable and broadcasting, satellite, electronic mail, included are services of mobile telephone network, main internet services and provision of access to the internet. Computer services consist of hardware and/or software-related services, and data-processing services; Information services comprise news agency services, database conception, data storage and the dissemination of data and databases, both online and through magnetic, optical or printed media.

Other business services include:

• Research and development services consist of services that are associated with by research in the physical sciences, social sciences, and also commercial research related to electronics, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology;
• Professional and management consulting services include: legal services, accounting, management consulting, managerial services and public relations services; and advertising, market research, and public opinion polling services;
• Technical, trade-related, and other business services comprise: architectural, engineering, scientific and other technical services; waste treatment and de-pollution, agricultural and mining services; operating leasing services; trade-related services; and other business services.

Personal, cultural and recreational services include audiovisual and related services, and other personal, cultural and recreational services. Audiovisual and related services are services and associated fees related to the production of motion pictures radio and television programmes and musical recordings. Other personal, cultural and recreational services are education services, health services, heritage and recreational services and other personal services.

Government goods and services not included elsewhere: this is a residual category covering government transactions (including those of international organisations) in goods and services that it is not possible to classify under other items.

Primary income

Primary income represents the return that accrues to institutional units for their contribution to the production process, or for the provision of financial assets or from renting natural resources to other institutional units. It comprises compensation of employees, investment income and other primary income.

Compensation of employees is recorded when the employer (the producing unit) and the employee are residents of different economies. For the economy where the producing units are residents, compensation of employees is the total remuneration (including contributions paid by employers to social security schemes or to private insurance or pension funds), in cash or in kind, payable by resident enterprises to non-resident employees in return for work done by the latter during the accounting period. For the economy where the individuals are residents, compensation is the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, receivable by them from non-resident enterprises in return for work done during the accounting period.

Sources for Compensation of employees (Labour income):

• Receipts: Since 2002, data from the Labour Force Survey (SORS) and Eurostat data have replaced ITRS and estimates as sources of labour income for the work of Slovene residents abroad.
• Expenditures: ITRS is the source for labour income - expenditures until 2004. Data relating to 2005 onwards are provided by SORS on the basis of Labour Office register for the number of non-residents, who at the end of each quarter possess valid work permits and who actually worked in Slovenia less than one year and data by The Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia for non-residents, who at the end of each quarter do not need valid work permits and who actually worked in Slovenia less than one year. Data on daily migrant workers from Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia are also included. Since 2002, labour income (receipts and expenditures) is included according to the gross principle (including taxes and social contributions).

Investment income is derived from an ownership of financial asset. Investment income includes income on equity (dividends, withdrawals from income of quasi-corporations, reinvested earnings) and on debt (interest), and investment income attributable to policyholders in insurance, pension schemes and standardised guarantee schemes. In balance of payments, investment income is also classified according to the function of the underlying investment, as direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment or reserve assets, and are further detailed according to the type of investment.

Since 2004, VRP reports have replaced ITRS as a source for income from equity securities. Annual reports on capital investments are the source for data regarding reinvested earnings. Data on reinvested earnings in the current year are estimated - a three-year monthly average of actual data on total earnings, less extraordinary incomes (the source being annual reports on investments), is decreased by dividends and other profits, paid in the current month (the source being monthly reports on investments from 1.1.2008 onwards, previously the source was ITRS). The estimate is replaced by actual data only when these data are available. Data on disproportionally large exceptional payments of profits relative to the recent level of dividends and earnings (superdividends) are excluded from income and included in direct investment as withdrawals of equity (from 2008 onwards). Until 2003, the source of income from debt securities was ITRS; since 2004 the sources are reports on securities transactions (VRP reports) and KDD data. Until 2004, the source on income from other investments was ITRS for the banking sector; the source was later changed to reports on monetary financial institutions (PORFI). Until 2006, the source on income from other investments for the non-banking sector was ITRS; since 2007, the source is KDD reporting. Income from loans (including long-term trade credits) and reserve assets have been managed according to the accrual principle since 2002. Since 2007, total income from other investments is managed according to the same principle. Since 2004, the accrual principle is used for income from bonds and notes.

Other primary income is divided into two components: taxes on production and imports, subsidies and rents.

Secondary income

The secondary income account shows current transfers between residents and non-residents. A transfer is an entry that corresponds to the provision of a good, service, financial asset or other non-produced asset by an institutional unit to another institutional unit where there is no corresponding return of an item of economic value. Current transfers consist of all transfers that are not capital transfers.

General government current transfers comprise current taxes on income, wealth, etc., social contributions, social benefits, current international cooperation, miscellaneous current transfers, VAT and GNI-based EU own resources.

Other sectors current transfers comprise current taxes on income, wealth, etc., social contributions, social benefits, miscellaneous current transfers, net non-life insurance premiums, non-life insurance claims and adjustments for the changes in pension entitlements. Miscellaneous current transfers include personal transfers between resident and non-resident households (of which workers' remittances).

The main data sources are the ITRS and estimates until 2007, from 2008 onwards the sources are BST reports, and from 2004 onwards, data on EU transfers of the government sector are obtained directly from the Ministry of Finance (budget data). Migrants' transfers - outflows and inflows (data provided by foreign central banks) and transfers of households (SORS survey) are included from 2008 onwards.

Capital account items

The capital account covers the acquisition/disposal of non-produced non-financial assets and capital transfers.

Non-produced, non-financial assets consist of: natural resources; contracts, leases and licences; marketing assets (brand names, trademarks) and goodwill. Only the purchase/sale of such assets, but not their use, is to be recorded in this item of the capital account. This item also includes data on purchases and sales of emission allowances.

Capital transfers consist of transfers of ownership of fixed assets; transfers of funds linked to, or conditional on, the acquisition or disposal of fixed assets; and the cancellation, without any consideration being received in return, of liabilities by creditors. Capital transfers may be in cash or in kind (such as debt forgiveness). The distinction between current and capital transfers, in practice, rests in the use of the transfer by the recipient country.

Capital transfers comprise capital taxes, investment grants, debt forgiveness and other capital transfers. The ITRS is the source of data until 2007. From 2008 onwards data are obtained from BST reports, but data on capital transfers between the Republic of Slovenia and the EU are from 2004 onwards obtained directly from the Ministry of Finance (budget data). Since 2002, the Bank of Slovenia also estimates the value of write-downs of debt from trade in goods and services abroad. From 2008 onwards, there are also included data on assets acquired directly by tenders and programs of EU (SORS, Annual survey on investment in tangible assets).

Balance of Payments financial account and International Investment Position items

Direct investment

Direct investments are a form of cross-border investment by a resident of one economy in another economy with the objective of establishing a lasting interest and influencing the management of the affiliated company.

The criterion for classification as a direct investment, which ensures the international comparability of data, is participation of at least 10% in equity or voting rights; a criterion of 10% of equity has been applied in the compilation of the figures for Slovenia.

Direct investors may be individuals, companies, groups of individuals or companies, and governments or government agencies that hold direct investments in companies in the rest of the world.

Direct investments comprise equity, reinvested earnings and debt instruments between direct and indirect affiliates and between fellow enterprises. Income from direct investments is also disclosed, in the part relating to equity (profit distributions and reinvested earnings), and in the part relating to debt instruments (interest).

Contributions to equity may be in the form of cash, non-cash contributions or reinvested earnings. The figures for investments in real estate are included under equity.

Payments of disproportionately high dividends or profit distributions have since 2008 been treated as withdrawals of equity, and not as dividend payments.

The figures for transactions in direct investment equity have been compiled at market value, while the figures for the stock of investments are valued at book value in accordance with the equity method. Investments in listed joint-stock companies have been an exception since 2007: the corresponding stock of investment is stated at market value. The figures for debt instruments are stated at nominal value.

Debt instruments comprise assets and liabilities between affiliates and fellow enterprises, and include financial loans, trade credits, deposits, and other assets and liabilities. Debt instruments between affiliated financial intermediaries (between domestic and foreign S.122, S.123, S.124 and S.125 sectors) are not included in direct investments, they are included in 'other investment' functional category. Due to non-existence or statistical insignificance of data on debt securities between affiliated and fellow enterprises are not included in direct investment – they are included in 'portfolio investment' functional category.

FDI amounts do not include:

• the value of assets in respect of other successors in the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that are still subject to succession negotiations, seized assets in these territories, and other assets whose ownership was transferred from legal entities to the state during the privatisation process,
• the value of real estate in the rest of the world owned by households (primarily investments in Croatia) before 2007,
• the value of real estate in Slovenia owned by foreign residents (before 2008).

Additional data on direct investment are available in a special publication of the Bank of Slovenia: “Neposredne naložbe – Direct Investment”on the Bank of Slovenia Website: https://www.bsi.si/en/publications/statistical-reports/direct-investment

Portfolio investment

Portfolio investment includes transactions and positions involving debt or equity securities, other than those included in direct investment or reserve assets. Portfolio investment includes equity securities, investment fund shares and debt securities, unless they are categorised either as direct investment or as reserve assets.

Equity securities consist of listed and unlisted shares.

Transactions and positions in debt securities are divided by original maturity into short-term and long-term. Short-term debt securities are payable on demand or issued with an initial maturity of one year or less. Long-term debt securities are issued with an initial maturity of more than one year. Since 2007 this item includes also assets of debt portfolio instruments held by Bank of Slovenia, which are no longer considered as international reserves, but as claims to EMU member states and claims in EUR currency to all other non-residents.

Financial derivatives

A financial derivative contract is a financial instrument that is linked to another specific financial instrument or indicator or commodity and through which specific financial risks (such as interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, equity and commodity price risks, credit risk, and so on) can be traded in their own right in financial markets.

From 2004 until 2006 these types of transactions are included in VRP and KDD sources. Since 2007 quarterly data on financial account's statistics are source for financial derivatives for all sectors except the central bank. From 2009 onwards financial derivatives of Bank of Slovenia are included in financial derivatives item or reserve assets item (depending on the residency of the counterpart). For financial derivatives of banks from 2011 onwards the data source is PORFI.

Other investment

Other investment is a category that includes positions and transactions other than those included in direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives and employee stock options or reserve assets. Other investment includes: (a) Other equity; (b) Currency and deposits; (c) Loans (including use of IMF credit and loans from the IMF); (d) Insurance, pension and standardised guarantee schemes; (e) Trade credits and advances; (f) Other accounts receivable/payable; and (g) SDR allocations (SDR holdings are included in reserve assets).

Other equity includes mainly participation in the capital of some international organisations, which is not in the form of securities.

Currency and deposits include currency in circulation and deposits. Deposits are standardised, non-negotiable contracts generally offered by deposit-taking institutions, allowing the placement and the later withdrawal of a variable amount of money by the creditor. Deposits usually involve a guarantee by the debtor to return the principal amount to the investor.

Net position of the Bank of Slovenia to the Eurosystem (net result of incoming and outgoing payments conducted in EUR currency through TARGET and STEP2 system) is also included in the item currency and deposits on the asset side (in case of positive balance) or liability side (in case of negative balance).

The international investment position includes data of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on deposits of domestic households at BIS Member State banks. Since 2001, an estimate of the stock of foreign currency held by households at home is also included. However, any further investments of foreign currencies (primarily investments in real estate abroad and foreign securities, without domestic brokers) are not excluded from this estimate, since data of this type are not available.

Currency and deposit transactions of households

Until the adoption of Euro currency (1 January 2007) the foreign currency of residents is estimated based on the following formula:

+ deposited currency and cheques on foreign currency accounts of individuals - withdrawals of cash and cheques from foreign currency accounts of individuals + the estimated net purchase of foreign currency by residents + estimated expenditures for tourist travel abroad + estimated expenditures of tourist travel to the former Yugoslavia + the estimated purchase of goods abroad - estimated labour expenditures abroad - estimated Italian pensions (until the end of 1998) + net withdrawals from non-resident accounts in local currency + the change of deposit balances of residents on accounts at BIS Member State banks (before 2002).

Since 2002, the category “Accounts Abroad of Other Sectors” also includes BIS data regarding deposits of domestic households in BIS Member State banks.

Loans are financial assets that are created when a creditor lends funds directly to a debtor, and are evidenced by documents that are not negotiable. From 2001 onwards, inter-company debt transactions between affiliated enterprises (10% or more capital share) are not recorded as loans, but are recorded as direct investment – debt instruments transactions. Loans (including long-term trade credits) and related income have been calculated according to the accrual principle from 2002 onwards and according to the cash principle prior to 2002. From 2005 onwards claims/liabilities of banking sector regardless of capital affiliation to non-residents are included in this item (the direct investment relationships are not distinguished in the data source). Data on loans of households borrowed from the banks abroad (Austria, Italy, Germany) are included from 2012 onwards. The source is ECB database.  

Insurance, pension schemes, and standardised guarantee schemes include non-life insurance technical reserves, life insurance and annuity entitlements, pension entitlements, claims of pension funds on pension managers, entitlements to non pension funds, and provisions for calls under standardised guarantees.Data source for b.o.p. and i.i.p. statistics are quarterly financial accounts. Monthly data are derived by dividing quarterly data equally within separate months within each quarter.

Trade credit and advances are financial claims arising from the direct extension of credit by the suppliers of goods and services to their customers, and advances for work that is in progress or is yet to be undertaken, in the form of prepayment by customers for goods and services not yet provided. Trade credit and advances arise when payment for goods or services is not made at the same time as the change in ownership of a good or provision of a service. Until 2002, short-term trade credits were estimated based on the following calculation:

(export of goods - export payments) – (import of goods - import payments)

Since 2002 until July 2017, short-term commercial credits and advances were included based on SKV reports, since August 2017 they are included based on KRD reports. Short-term trade credits between affiliated companies are included in direct investment.

Other accounts receivable/payable consists of accounts receivable or payable which are not parts of any other instrument.

Special drawing rights (SDR) allocations

The allocation of SDRs to IMF members is shown as a liability incurred by the recipient under SDRs in Other investment, with a corresponding entry under SDRs in Reserve assets.

Reserve assets

Reserve assets are those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for meeting balance of payments financing needs, for intervention in exchange markets to manage the currency exchange rate, and for other related purposes (such as maintaining confidence in the currency and the economy, or serving as a basis for foreign borrowing). Reserve assets must be foreign currency assets, claims vis-à-vis non-residents and assets that actually exist. Potential assets are excluded.

Reserve assets and related income have been calculated according to the accrual principle from 2002 onwards, and according to the cash principle prior to 2002. Following Slovenia’s entry to the EMU in 2007, claims to other residents of the euro area (denominated in Euros and in other currencies) and claims in Euros to EMU non-residents are not included in reserve holdings. From 2007 onwards, these transactions/positions are shown in the appropriate categories of the financial account sector of the Bank of Slovenia (portfolio investment and other investment) within the balance of payments statistic or the appropriate instrument within the international investment position statistics. Reserve assets item includes also financial derivatives (from 2009 onwards). More explanation is available in: “The statistical treatment of the international monetary reserves at the entry of Slovenia to the euro area” (Slovenian), in the chapter Methodological information on the internet page: https://www.bsi.si/en/statistics/first-release-rapid-report/external-statistics (International reserves).