the accuracy of developing countries' statistics would be suspicious, most of the discrepancy actually occurs between developed countries of trusted statistics.

Factors that can affect the balance of trade include:
* The cost of production (land, labor, capital, taxes, incentives, etc.) in the exporting economy vis-à-vis those in the importing economy;
* The cost and availability of raw materials, intermediate goods and other inputs;
* Currency exchange rate movements;
* Multilateral, bilateral and unilateral taxes