Chapter 15 Flashcards
Balance of payment
Record that summarizes all international transactions of a country with the rest of the world during a certain period
Credit in components of the balance of payment
Money comes into Canada (exports of goods/services)
Debit in components of the balance of payment
Money that goes out of Canada (imports of goods/services)
Trade Balance
Exports of goods - imports of good
Net Transfers
Inflow of transfers - outflow of transfers (eg. a grant or an aid)
Unilateral Transfers
Transfers that flow in one direction, we take and don’t give back, or give and do not give back,. a gift.
Net Investments income
The inflow of investment income(credit) - the outflow of investment income(debit) (eg. profits and interests). Both are recorded in current account, not capital.
Current Account
is a record of the net exports of goods and services and net transfers and net investment income
Capital account
Records flow of capital like investment and borrowing “loans”. Talking about the investment itself, (eg. me opening a restaurant in China is and outflow of capital in Canada)
Types of investment
Direct: Making a project
Indirect: Investing in the stock market, portfolio investment.
Both are recorded in the capital account.
Capital inflows
Recorded in the credit side
Capital outflows
Recorded in the debit side
International reserve ‘settlement; account
Holdings of gold and foreign currencies and foreign assets held by our central bank. This account is used to settle ‘balance’ the other two accounts so the balance of payment has to be zero=balanced.
Exchange Rate
Price(cost) of 1 foreign currency. How many CD$ to buy 1 unit of foreign currency
If the exchange rate increases
CD$ depreciates versus the other currency, CD$ becomes weaker. Canadian goods and services are now cheaper than foreign goods and our net exports increase.
Fixed (peged) Exchange rate system
Mainly used in developing countries exchange rate is determined by the central bank which uses his reserves of foreign currency to keep the exchange rate fixed.
If there is a shortage of foreign currency in the market the exchange rate goes up, so to prevent this the central bank will sell foreign currency into the market.
If there is a surplus of foreign currency the central bank will buy this surplus and add it to its reserves to prevent the exchange rate from decreasing.