Balance of payments

The balance of payments measures the payments that
flow between any individual country and all other countries.
It is used to summarize all international economic transactions
for that country during a particular time period, usually a year.
It is include the current account, the capital acount and the
financial account.
The current account records payments for imports and exports
ofphysical goods. Imports are the debit items and exports are
the credit items for a country. The current account also includes
the trade in service accounts (imports and exports of services
such as transport, tourism), income flows,and the current transfers
of money.
The financial account records the flows of money into and out of the
country for the purposes of investment or as deposits in banks and
financal institutions. The financial account includes the direct investment
from foreign countries in one of its branches or associated companies
in the UK and portfolio investment changes in the holding of
paper assets, such as shares. Also it includes other financial flows
such as short term monetary movement.
The capital account records the flows of funds.