balance of international payments
- noun
- Specialized
:
balanza de pagos internacionales
- The government closely monitors the balance of international payments to assess the country's economic health.
Examples
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Improvements in exports can help a nation achieve a favorable balance of international payments.
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A persistent deficit in the balance of international payments may indicate underlying economic problems.
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The balance of international payments is crucial for a country's economy.
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Countries must maintain a healthy balance of international payments.
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The government closely monitors the balance of international payments to assess the country's economic health.
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Improvements in exports can help a nation achieve a favorable balance of international payments.
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A persistent deficit in the balance of international payments may indicate underlying economic problems.
Synonyms
2
4.6
A record of a country's money that comes in and goes out with other countries over a year
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
balance + of + international + payment
The constituents 'balance' (a summary/net amount), 'international' (between countries) and 'payments' (money transfers) readily cue that this phrase concerns money flows between a country and other countries, so a learner can grasp the general idea. However, the precise technical sense — a systematic accounting record of all transactions over a period (the formal accounting concept of "balance of payments") — is specialised and not fully predictable from the words alone, making it partially but not fully transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Balance of international payments comes from old bookkeeping. People wrote down all the money a country received from and paid to other countries, and the final amount, the balance, showed whether more money came in or went out, so the phrase now means the full record of a country's payments with the rest of the world.