Trade Balance (BOP)

Trade Balance (BOP) is the difference between the value of exports and imports of goods as recorded in the balance of payments. Goods are usually valued on a FOB (free-on-board) basis, which distinguishes this series from customs-based trade statistics. Part of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Latin Macro Watch, the indicator helps researchers, policymakers and journalists compare merchandise trade on a balance-of-payments basis across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Coverage

The series covers 23 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly and quarterly frequency over the period 1990–2026. Values are available in millions of USD, as a share of GDP (% of GDP), year-to-date (YTD) and on a fiscal-year (Q4–Q3 aggregation) basis, with moving-average smoothing (MA3, MA6, MA12) and month-on-month (MoM %), quarter-on-quarter (QoQ %) and year-on-year (YoY %) transformations.

Sources

Data are compiled by the IDB from central banks and national statistical agencies, including the Banco Central do Brasil, the Banco de la República de Colombia, the Banco de Mexico (Banxico), the Central Bank of The Bahamas and INDEC - Argentina. See the resource notes for the full list of source agencies by country.

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Format	CSV
Language	en
Country	Argentina Bahamas Trinidad & Tobago Belize Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia El Salvador Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Panama Uruguay Venezuela Barbados Paraguay Peru Suriname
Data notes	What does Trade Balance (BOP) measure? It measures the difference between the value of exports and imports of goods as recorded in the balance of payments, with goods usually valued on a FOB (free-on-board) basis. How does it differ from the customs-based Trade Balance? This series records goods on a balance-of-payments basis (usually FOB), whereas the customs-based Trade Balance is built from customs trade statistics. How many countries and what period does it cover? It covers 23 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly and quarterly frequency over 1990–2026. What units and transformations are available? Values are available in millions of USD, as a share of GDP, year-to-date and on a fiscal-year basis, with moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and MoM %, QoQ % and YoY % changes. Where does the data come from? The IDB compiles the series from central banks and national statistical agencies, including the Banco Central do Brasil, the Banco de la República de Colombia, the Banco de Mexico (Banxico) and the Central Bank of The Bahamas. What is this indicator typically used for? It supports external-sector analysis, current-account monitoring and cross-country comparison of merchandise trade on a consistent balance-of-payments basis. How do I cite this indicator? Cite as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "Trade Balance (BOP)." data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset.