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| The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness | ||||||||||||
| Coverage characteristics | 5.1.1 Statistical presentation The balance of payments statistics are disseminated according to the standard components of the BPM5 by the MOF under the signature of the BOJ and the MOF through a press release and on their respective websites. Historical time series are disseminated by both the BOJ and the MOF. The MOF monthly press release contains a table with major balance of payments aggregates, accompanied by a short commentary on current-period developments. The MOF publication Fiscal and Monetary Statistics Monthly features the balance of payments statistics every year.
Also, the BOJ provides a more detailed breakdown approximately three weeks after the data are released in the Bank of Japan (International Department) Balance of Payments Quarterly and the Bank of Japan (Research and Statistics Department) Financial and Economic Statistics Monthly. The BOJ also publishes these statistics on the BOJ website (http://www.boj.or.jp). The annual report on the balance of payments Japan’s Balance of Payments for__Year provides charts, graphics, explanatory notes, and commentaries on current-period developments. The annual report is available on the BOJ website, as well as in the list of the BOJ publications. | |||||||||||
| Periodicity | 4.1.1 Periodicity The balance of payments data are compiled and disseminated monthly, which exceeds the quarterly prescription of the SDDS. The quarterly data are also published. | |||||||||||
| Timeliness | 4.1.2 Timeliness The preliminary monthly balance of payments data are disseminated by the MOF basically one month and six working days after the end of the reference month; and the final monthly data three months and six working days after the end of the reference quarter. | |||||||||||
| Access by the Public | ||||||||||||
| Advance dissemination of release calendar | 5.1.3 Advance release calendar In observation of the prescriptions to the SDDS, Japan is announcing in advance the dates on which balance of payments data are released. Advance release dates are provided on the IMF’s DSBB. Also, the balance of payments advance release calendar is also directly accessible. The MOF and the BOJ release a quarterly dissemination schedule for the balance of payments statistics. The schedule is released during the last month of each quarter for the following six months on both the MOF and the BOJ websites. Data are released as scheduled. | |||||||||||
| Simultaneous release to all interested parties | 5.1.4 Simultaneous release The data are released to all statistics users at the same time, first through the MOF and BOJ press release disseminated on the MOF website and to press agencies. The MOF holds a press conference at 8:50 a.m. on the day the data are released and disseminates a communiqué. Those materials are simultaneously distributed to the public at the BOJ. Also, data are disseminated simultaneously on the MOF and BOJ websites. | |||||||||||
| Integrity | ||||||||||||
| Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including those relating to the confidentiality of individually identifiable information | 0.1.1 Responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating statistics The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is responsible for compiling the balance of payments statistics and reporting it to the Cabinet periodically (Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law (FEFTL) of 1949, most recently amended in 2007 ).
At the same time, the MOF entrusts to the BOJ acceptance of the relevant reports and making the balance of payments statistics.
0.1.2 Data sharing and coordination among data producing agencies Most balance of payments collections are administrative data requested through the reporting requirements prescribed under the FEFTL. 0.1.3 Confidentiality of individual reporters' data Bank of Japan The Article 29 of the Bank of Japan Act, which took effect as of April 1998, clarifies the rules with respect to the confidentiality as follows: (Article 29) The Bank of Japan's officers and employees shall not leak or misappropriate secrets which they have learned in the course of their duties. The same shall apply even after they have left the Bank. Balance of payments Legal provisions protect the confidentiality of the individual data that are shared by the MOF and the BOJ. 0.1.4 Ensuring statistical reporting The legal authority to collect data required to compile the balance of payments statistics is provided by the FEFTL. 0.2.1 Staff, facilities, computing resources, and financing Overall, staffing for balance of payments statistics is adequate. 0.2.2 Ensuring efficient use of resources The MOF and the BOJ implements adequate measures to ensure efficient use of resources. 0.3.1 Monitoring user requirements Several groups of statistics users are consulted: academic groups, private research institutes, government agencies (METI, and CAO), financial corporations, and other market participants, such as the Japan Foreign Trade Council. 0.4.1 Quality policy The management and staff of the MOF and the BOJ are sensitive to the quality of statistics. 0.4.2 Quality monitoring The BOJ has set up numerous mechanisms to monitor data quality. 0.4.3 Quality planning The BOJ consults with data suppliers, the main statistics users of balance of payments statistics, and the international community at international forums. Feedback from users on quality standards and on new and emerging data requirements is taken into account in the work program planning process. 1.1.1 Impartiality of statistics As indicated in the section 0.3.1, the BOJ and the MOF staff are encouraged to enhance their professionalism by participating in international meetings.
1.1.2 Selection of sources, methodology, and modes of dissemination For each component of balance of payments statistics, internal compilation guides are prepared and updated, as necessary. 1.1.3 Commenting on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics The MOF and the BOJ are entitled to interpret and comment on balance of payments statistics. 1.2.1 Disclosure of terms and conditions for statistical collection, processing, and dissemination The explanations of terms and conditions under which statistics are compiled, methodologies, and major data sources are disseminated on the BOJ website and on the IMF’s Dissemination Statistics Bulletin Board (DSBB) (for the BOJ website: http://www.boj.or.jp , and for the IMF’s DSBB: http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddscountrylist/); in the Bank of Japan (International Department) Balance of Payments Quarterly. 1.3.1 Guidelines for staff behavior Bank of Japan “Rules of Ethical Conduct for Executives and Staff of the Bank of Japan” (available in Japanese only) is applied to the work of the statistics. The Article 32 of the Bank of Japan Act clarifies the rules with respect to the ethical discipline as follows: (Article 32 )The Bank of Japan shall, in light of the public nature of its business and in order to ensure the proper execution of their duties by its officers and employees, establish rules on service for its officers and employees, such as rules on the obligations to devote themselves to their duties and to separate themselves from private enterprises, and shall report such rules to the Minister of Finance and, at the same time, make them public. The same shall apply when making any change to the rules. Moreover, the statistical sections have developed rules, notably on data confidentiality. Balance of payments The Governmental Official Act and the National Public Service Ethics Law prescribes the ethical standards for Government official. The BOJ Low, the Rules of Ethical Conduct for Executives and Staff of the BOJ, and the Code of Conduct for Staff of the BOJ prescribes the ethical standards for BOJ staff. All these are made public. | |||||||||||
| Identification of internal government access to data before release | 1.2.2 Internal governmental access to statistics prior to release The IMF’s DSBB states that there is no internal governmental access to statistics prior to their release. | |||||||||||
| Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases | 1.2.3 Attribution of statistical products The press release of the MOF is published under the double stamp of the MOF and the BOJ. | |||||||||||
| Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology | 4.3.1 Revision schedule Monthly balance of payments data are provisional when first released. The final data are disseminated as monthly and quarterly data about three months after the end of the reference quarter. 4.3.2 Identification of preliminary and/or revised data Preliminary data are clearly identified with symbols in the publications. 1.2.4 Advance notice of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques. The BOJ alert the reporters collectively in the meetings or individually by mail, sufficiently in advance, to facilitate the transitory steps. In addition, programmed methodological changes are discussed with statistics users during the quarterly meetings and described in public notices available on the MOF and the BOJ websites, and in forms and instructions on the BOJ website. | |||||||||||
| Quality | ||||||||||||
| Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics | 5.2.1 Dissemination of documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques Documentation on balance of payments sources and methods is available in the following publications:
(1) The BOJ website posts a methodological note on the compilation methods of balance of payments statistics, both in Japanese and in English;
(2) This note is reproduced in the Bank of Japan (International Department) Balance of Payments Quarterly and in the Bank of Japan (Research and Statistics Department) Financial and Economic Statistics Monthly both in Japanese and in English;
(3) Analytical elements are developed in the Bank of Japan Quarterly Bulletin (in Japanese and in English) that elaborates on methodologies and specific compilation issues, analysis, and comments on balance of payments statistics;
(4) The BOJ annual publication Japan’s Balance of Payments for__Year contains comprehensive methodological notes;
(5) BOJ Working Papers and other explanatory documents as prepared by staff describe new balance of payments compilation systems, specific revisions to balance of payments, and specific issues regarding data sources and methods (e.g., new methodology for FDI);
(6) The BOJ participates in the IMF’s annual Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey and also in the Survey of Implementation of Methodological Standards for Direct Investment. Detailed methodological information on these initiatives is available on the IMF’s website; and
(7) An additional document on the methodological compilation can be found in the IMF’s Balance of Payments Yearbook–Part III 5.2.2 Disseminated level of detail The available documentation given in 5.2.1 meets the needs of specific users. (See also summary methodology) | |||||||||||
| Dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness | 4.2.1 Internal consistency Internal data consistency is assured by applying the same concepts, definitions, and classifications for producing the monthly, quarterly, and annual balance of payments statistics 4.2.2 Temporal consistency Monthly and annual data, compiled in accordance with the BPM5, are available from 1991 for the full scope of standard components and from 1985 for main items. Occasionally, when major methodological changes are introduced, historical time series are reconstructed. For example, a backward revision for the period 1991–96 was conducted to produce historical time series in the BPM5 format, and the retroactive revision was conducted in 2002 for implementing methodology of the BPM5 Supplement on financial derivatives.
While the short revision policy may hamper consistency of time series, efforts are made where feasible to construct historical time series outside the interlocking program (e.g., recent backward revision of transportation component given in the BOJ explanatory note of August 12, 2005). The methodology for compiling the workers’ remittances component was changed in April 2003, but no retroactive revisions were made, and there is no continuity of time series between data for 2003 and 2004. 4.2.3 Intersectoral and cross-domain consistency Balance of payments statistics are reconcilable with national accounts compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office, as well as other monetary and financial statistics compiled by the Research and Statistics Department of the BOJ.5.1.2 Dissemination media and format The balance of payments statistics are disseminated in hard copy and are available on the MOF and BOJ’s websites in a user-friendly format. | |||||||||||
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