The BOP is a statistical statement that summarizes transactions between residents and non-residents over a given period of time, usually one year. It consists of the goods and services account, the primary income account, the secondary income account, the capital account, and the financial account. The BOP measures flows rather than stock using a systematic record of an economy’s international transactions with the rest of the world.

The BOP provides the Government and the business community with more information for assessing the macro-economic and monetary situation, enhances understanding of developments in external transactions of the economy and helps discern the various forces in the foreign exchange market affecting the exchange rate of the EC dollar. The Division is in the process of preparing for the compilation of the 2017 BOP statistics and seeks to improve the scope and quality of the BOP with technical assistance from CARTAC. To this end, we are requesting a meeting with you in an effort to address some of the data gaps that currently exist as it relates to foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Antigua and Barbuda. This comes as a result of the proposed closure of Antigua Barbuda Investment Authority and prior changes made to their scope of coverage of FDIs.

The information required by the Division on a quarterly basis for BOP compilation includes:

• The investors/investment entity for each investment project
• The nature of the investment being undertaken in the country
• The proposed and actual investment expenditure on a yearly basis