The balance of payments, also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BP, of a country is the record of all economic transactions between the residents of the country and the rest of the world in a particular period (over a quarter of a year or more commonly over a year). These transactions are made by individuals, firms and government bodies. Thus the balance of payments includes all external visible and non-visible transactions of a country . It represents a summation of country's current demand and supply of the claims on foreign currencies and of foreign claims on its currency.