Definition: Center of economic interest

Balance of Payments, IMF

An institutional unit has a center of economic interest within a country when there exists some location - dwelling, place of production, or other premises - within the economic territory of the country on, or from, which the unit engages and intends to continue engaging, either indefinitely or over a finite but long period of time, in economic activities and transactions on a significant scale. The locations need not to be fixed so long as it remains within the economic territory. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/BoP_Manual_Fifth_Edition_EN.pdf