Positive balance boosts economy, negative balance leads to debt and borrowing.
The balance of payments is the difference between what a country earns from other countries and what it spends on them. If a country earns more than it spends, it can use the extra money to pay off debts, buy assets from other countries, or lend money to them. But if a country spends more than it earns, it has to borrow money from other countries or sell assets it bought in the past.