There are two forms of external equilibrium. One is the balance of international payments, which mainly refers to the quantitative balance of a simple balance of international payments account of a certain caliber. The other is an independent balance of payments with full employment in the domestic economy and stable prices. That is, the balance of international payments based on internal balance.

Commonly used standards also include related items of balance of payments, such as trade balance, current account balance, foreign exchange balance, balance of payments and so on.