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balance of payments

American  

noun

  1. the difference between a nation's total payments to foreign countries, including movements of capital and gold, investments, tourist spending, etc., and its total receipts from foreign countries.

balance of payments British  

noun

  1. the difference over a given time between total payments to foreign nations, arising from imports of goods and services and transfers abroad of capital, interest, grants, etc, and total receipts from foreign nations, arising from exports of goods and services and transfers from abroad of capital, interest, grants, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
balance of payments Cultural  

  1. The relationship between the payments made by one nation to all other nations and its receipts from all other nations.

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A nation whose payments exceed its receipts is said to be running an unfavorable balance of payments, which can affect the value of its currency in foreign countries. (See foreign exchange.)

Etymology

Origin of balance of payments

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Section 122 was designed as a temporary tool to address emergency balance of payments issues and would likely face further legal challenges if rolled over repeatedly,” he added.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

“We think the balance of payments will turn its strongest in 15 years with foreign portfolio inflows,” economist Bum Ki Son writes in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

For Elliott, “Argentina needs a much lower exchange rate, much higher interest rates and a significant economic contraction” to stabilize the balance of payments.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 30, 2025

If anything, Newsom may even have downplayed the size of California’s negative balance of payments with the federal government.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2025

Eventually, though, Lefty began to understand the difference between five-card draw and seven-card stud, and gradually the balance of payments around the table began to shift.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.