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 In Britain, the British Overseas Trade Board (BOTB) is a government department whose main concern is to deal with commercial policy (i.e. it negotiates trade agreements and commercial treaties with foreign countries, including the Commonwealth) and the promotion of the export trade (exhibitions, trade fairs and other commercial events overseas).
It also gives exporters who need export intelligence all the assistance required, be it for appointing commission agents or even for finding potential importers or customers. The president of the BOTB is the Secretary of State for Trade. Britain, a trading nation, exports mainly aerospace products, motor vehicles, electrical equipment, finished textiles and most types of machinery. She imports agricultural products, raw materials, including natural products, which are manufactured and re-exported.
Earnings in the export and import trade can be divided into two main groups:
a) Visible earnings: Foreign currency obtained from the exchange of products between countries.
b) Invisible earnings: Foreign currency obtained from services sold to overseas countries (insurance, banking, tourism, construction, consultancy...).
Balance of payments:
a) Current Account: Visible trade (imports and exports).
b) Capital account: Invisible Trade (overseas and home investments). The balance of trade can be in deficit (when the country in question imports more than it exports) or in surplus (when the country exports more than it imports). When there is an imbalance of trade such as a deficit, this can affect the exchange rate of the local currency of a country.
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