The balance of payments statement systematically records every international economic transaction according to the double-entry bookkeeping principle of "if there is a loan, there will be a loan". This accounting principle requires that each transaction should be recorded by the debit and credit, and the credit should record the decrease of assets and the increase of liabilities; Debit records the increase of assets and the decrease of liabilities.
The balance of payments is a record of international transactions, so it always draws a balance from each transaction and the total amount of loans. However, the balance of payments caused by international transactions cannot be balanced in advance. There are actually two kinds of transactions reflected in the balance of payments: one is independent transactions beforehand, and the other is regulatory transactions afterwards. Trade items are generally the former. In independent transactions, if there is a difference, then we can only use international reserves or borrow short-term capital to make up for the difference, which is ex post supervision transactions. If the balance of payments of independent transactions can be basically balanced, then regulatory transactions do not have to occupy an important position. In this sense, the balance of payments is basically balanced; If the situation is the opposite, the balance of payments will be unbalanced.
The balance and imbalance of international payments indicate that there is a compensation relationship between projects. The foreign trade deficit is usually accompanied by a net inflow of capital or a decrease in international reserves, while the foreign trade surplus is usually accompanied by a net outflow of capital or an increase in international reserves.