Data sources

Flow name Financial flow into / out of the UK Flow description Source dataset
Remittances Into UK &

Out of UK

Remittances arise mainly from people moving from one economy to another, in this case between developing countries and the UK. They largely consist of funds and noncash items sent or given by individuals who have migrated to a new economy and become residents there, and the net compensation of workers who are employed in an economy (e.g. the UK) in which they are not resident (see IMF Balance of Payments Manual 6 Appendix 5). 

Bilateral remittances matrix
Inward FDI flows Into UK Net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows into the UK. From a UK perspective, inward direct investment is investment in a UK resident affiliate (subsidiary or associate) or branch by a non-UK parent company or head office. FDI flows comprise of: acquisitions or disposals of equity capital; reinvestment of earnings; inter-company debt (see ONS FDI notes).

FDI flows with a negative sign indicate that at least one of the components of FDI is negative and not offset by positive amounts of the remaining components. These are instances of reverse investment or disinvestment (see World Bank data knowledgebase).

FDI flows, positions and earnings
Earnings on inward FDI Out of UK Earnings of investors on their UK direct investments that are returned to the non-UK parent company or head office. These earnings can arise from both equity and debt. Negative earnings reflect losses exceeding profits (see Office for National Statistics – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) notes). FDI flows, positions and earnings
Outward FDI flows Out of UK Net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows out of the UK. From a UK perspective, outward foreign direct investment is investment by a UK resident company in a non-UK affiliate (subsidiary or associate) or branch. FDI flows comprise of: acquisitions or disposals of equity capital; reinvestment of earnings; inter-company debt (see Office for National Statistics – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) notes).

Negative FDI flows are instances of reverse investment or disinvestment. This indicates that at least one of the components of FDI is negative and not offset by positive amounts of the remaining components (see World Bank data knowledgebase).

FDI flows, positions and earnings
Earnings on outward FDI Into UK Earnings of UK resident direct investors on their foreign direct investments that are returned to the UK parent company or head office. Earnings on FDI can arise from both equity and debt.  Negative earnings reflect losses exceeding profits (see ONS – Foreign Direct Investment notes). FDI flows, positions and earnings
Trade in services – exports Into UK The provision of services by UK residents to non-residents, and transactions in goods which are not freighted out of the country in which the transactions take place, for example purchases by tourists. The two most important categories of UK services trade were (in 2016) professional, scientific and technical activities; and information and communication industries.

(see ONS balance of payments glossary, also UK trade methodology and International Trade in Services)

Pink Book – Trade in services by country
Trade in services – imports Out of UK The provision of services to UK residents by non-residents, and transactions in goods which are not freighted out of the country in which the transactions take place, for example purchases by tourists. See description above. Trade in services by country
Trade in goods – exports Into UK Value of goods exported from the UK. Trade in goods covers general merchandise, goods for processing, repairs on goods, goods procured in ports by carriers and commodity gold (but not ‘financial gold’ held as a financial asset).

General merchandise is defined for balance of payments purposes as covering, with a few exceptions, all movable goods for which actual or imputed changes of ownership occur between residents and nonresidents (see ONS balance of payments glossary).

Trade in goods by country
Trade in goods – imports Out of UK Value of goods imported to the UK. See description above. Trade in goods by country
Bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) Out of UK Aid flows count as ODA if they meet all of the following conditions:

  • They go to countries or territories on the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of ODA recipients, or to recognised multilateral institutions.
  • They are provided by official agencies or by their executive agencies.
  • They are administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as its main objective.
  • They are concessional in character and convey a grant element of at least 25 per cent.

UK ODA spend includes DFID spend, non-DFID departmental spend and other sources of ODA (such as EU attribution and gift aid). ODA is reported net of loan repayments.

On the whole, bilateral assistance is provided to partner countries while multilateral assistance is provided as core contributions to international organisations. Additional funding channelled through multilaterals where the recipient country/region, sector, theme or individual project is also classified as bilateral expenditure.
Prior to 2015, ODA statistics included equity investments (shares in businesses) purchased by the UK’s Development Finance Institution, CDC. From 2015 onwards, additional capital from the UK Government to CDC is recorded as ODA instead of CDC’s net investment outflows, and this figure is included in DFID’s ODA statistics rather than CDC’s.

(see Statistics on International Development 2016 background notes, and Annex 1 – Understanding Aid Expenditure)

Statistics on International Development – Additional Tables

Datasets

Dataset name Source organisation Source link(s) Notes / methodology Years currently available Geographic availability
Bilateral remittances matrix World Bank Bilateral remittances matrix The World Bank estimates bilateral remittances by allocating remittances received by each developing country among the countries of destination of its migrant nationals. They use three different allocation rules: (i) weights based on migrant stocks abroad; (ii) weights based on migrant incomes, proxied by migrant stocks multiplied by per capita income in the destination countries; and (iii) weights that take into account migrants’ incomes abroad as well as source-country incomes (see World Bank – Estimating bilateral remittances).

The World Bank notes that remittance flows may be underestimated because of the use of informal remittance channels (also see data notes in WorldBank Migration and Factbook 2016, pages xvii, xviii).

Development Monitor converts World Bank figures from US$ to GBP using IMF exchange rates.

2010-2017 All countries
FDI flows, positions and earnings Office for National Statistics 2013 to 2014

2014 to 2015

2015 to 2016

2016 to 2017

2017 to 2018

2018 to 2019

ONS undertakes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) surveys to collect financial information relating to direct investment in the UK by enterprises located abroad (inward FDI) and direct investment abroad by enterprises located in the UK (outward FDI). In either case the foreign investment must be at least 10% of the ordinary shares or voting power.

The surveys have a sample size of approximately 6,000 UK businesses owning subsidiaries and branches in foreign countries (outward population) and 20,900 UK businesses, who themselves are subsidiaries or branches of a foreign company (inward population). Components collected include; earnings, flows and positions (see ONS FDI Quality and Methodology Information, also 2016 Quality review and Methodological improvements).

2013-  2019 All countries where data is not disclosive.
Trade in Services by country Office for National Statistics Pink book – Geographical breakdown of the current account – Table 9.15 Service exports and imports cover a range of different sector categories, such as construction, repairs, travel, business, financial and telecoms services. The major survey source for many of the services categories is the International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey.  Sample size is 14,000 businesses annually. The ITIS survey is used in conjunction with sources such as the International Passenger Survey (IPS), which is a border survey based on face to face interviews with a sample of passengers (see ONS UK trade methodology, also detailed methodological notes for the UK balance of payments). 1999-2019 All countries
Pink Book – Trade in goods by country Office for National Statistics Pink book – Geographical breakdown of the current account – Table 9.14 Balance of payments statistics for trade in goods derive principally from HMRC data on physical goods exported/imported from/to the UK. However, this information is on a different basis to that required for balance of payments statistics. ONS makes various adjustments to include certain transactions which are not reported to HMRC, and to exclude certain transactions which are reported to them but where there is no change of ownership. In addition, the value for balance of payments purposes is the value of goods at the customs border of the exporting country (rather their value as they arrive in the UK). Therefore, freight and insurance costs of transporting the goods to the UK needs to be deducted (see ONS UK trade methodology, also detailed methodological notes for the UK balance of payments). 1999-2019 All countries
Statistics on International Development – Additional Tables Department for International Development (DFID) Statistics on International Development

Additional tables A5

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) sets the definitions and classifications for reporting on aid financing internationally, including Official Development Assistance (see Statistics on International Development 2016 background notes and  Annex 1 – Understanding Aid Expenditure for more detail). 2009-2019 All developing countries

Country groupings

Group Source 
Income group World Bank country and lending groups (June 20)
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) World Bank country and lending groups (June 20)
Least Developed Countries (LDC) UN list of LDCs (Feb 2021)
All developing countries OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients