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3.1. Balance of payments and international investment position statistics need to be arranged in a coherent structure to facilitate their use and adaptation for purposes such as policy formulation, analytical studies, projections, bilateral comparisons, and regional and global aggregations. BPM5 contains a standard classification and list of standard components of the balance of payments and international investment position. These standards were developed taking into account the views of national compilers and analysts, and the requirement to harmonise concepts and definitions with related international statistical standards and classifications. The classification also reflects the separation of categories that may exhibit different economic behaviour, may be important in a number of countries, are readily collectable, and are needed for harmonising with other bodies of statistics. The ABS, as part of its commitment to international standards and after consulting extensively with users, has adopted the BPM5 classification.

3.2. This chapter describes the standard balance of payments and international investment position classification. It also describes a number of subsidiary classifications prescribed by the BPM5. The standard components and subsidiary classifications are described in more detail in subsequent chapters, such as Chapter 6 (goods) and Chapter 7 (services).