The paper highlights asymmetries in EU current account data. Asymmetries are an inherent feature of all statistics for which "mirror" statistics are collected, i.e. for which two countries collect the same type of information in relation to each other. They occur when one country’s data do not correspond to the data for the same transaction reported by its partner country. In the case of foreign trade and balance of payments (BoP) transactions, this is reflected in the credits (exports) or debits (imports) collected by the two countries. For example, credits and debits reported by one country to and from another should, in theory, correspond with the debits and credits of that counterpart country. In reality, however, for a variety of reasons, it is rarely the case that two data sources provide exactly the same results, and so they lead to a global asymmetry.
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