International investment position / External debt

As secondary statistics, the international investment position i.i.p. and external debt are mainly based on stock data gathered in the corresponding primary statistics. The main sources include:

• external position of the Bundesbank;
• external position of domestic banks;
• stock reports on external claims and liabilities of non-banks;
• stock reports on cross-border equity investments;
• securities holdings statistics;
• balance of payments statistics;
• other internal and external sources.

External position of the Bundesbank; international reserves and foreign currency liquidity of the Eurosystem

The data for the external position of the Bundesbank and the data template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity are largely taken from the accounting system of the Bundesbank, and those for the Federal government’s stock data from the publications of the German Finance Agency (Bundesrepublik Deutschland Finanzagentur GmbH).

External positions of enterprises

External sector reporting serves as the basis for compiling the external positions of enterprises. It requires all resident entities – excluding monetary financial institutions (MFIs), investment stock corporations, investment companies for their special funds and natural persons – to report their claims and liabilities arising from loans and trade credits vis-à-vis non-residents. Reporting is only mandotory if the sum of the claims or the sum of the liabilities amounts to more than €5 million at the end of a given calendar month. These reporting requirements are anchored in Section 11(2) of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (Außenwirtschaftsgesetz) in conjunction with Section 66 of the Foreign Trade and Payments Regulation (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung).

With regard to positions, definitions and valuation the data follow internationally agreed concepts such as the International Monetary Fund’s balance of payments manual (BPM6), the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) as well as the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), which is binding for all members of the European Union, are taken into account.