Table I1 Non-financial accounts of general government

Table I1 shows total revenue and expenditure and their most important components as well as net lending (+) / borrowing (–) by subsector and at the level of the entire general government sector.

Net lending (+) / borrowing (–) is defined as the difference between total revenue and expenditure, and its ratio to gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices represents the statistical indicator whose value determines whether an EU member state meets one of the four Maastricht Treaty convergence criteria (the general government deficit ceiling).

The source of data for the table on non-financial accounts of general government is the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The methodological basis for data compilation is the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union 2010 (ESA 2010) and the Manual on government debt and deficit (MGDD).

The scope of the general government institutional sector is defined in the Decision on the statistical classification of institutional sectors (OG 1/2015), which is officially adopted and published by the CBS, and which is based on the ESA 2010 methodology under which general government is divided into central government, social security funds and local government.

As one of the basic methodological principles, ESA 2010 defines the accounting principle for recording revenue and expenditure, where the time adjusted cash method is applied to certain tax revenues, while other tax revenues are recorded on a pure cash basis. Furthermore, this statistics implements the methodological adjustments defined under ESA 2010 and MGDD provisions, of which most important for the general government sector are the treatment and recording of investment, public-private partnerships and concessions, capital transfers in cases of statistical debt assumption, payments under guarantees, and capital injections as non-financial transactions. Also, this methodology includes specific guidance for recording revenues from greenhouse gas emission allowances, military equipment expenditure, proceeds from UMTS licenses, as well as for the revenue correction implemented under the super-dividend test and corrections associated with transactions with EU funds.

A detailed description of the methodology for compiling the Excessive Deficit Procedure Report and statistics of non-financial accounts of general government is posted on the CBS website in the document entitled EDP Inventory.

Quarterly non-financial accounts are reported only at the level of the entire general government sector, and not for its subsectors.

The sum of transactions in revenues and expenditures from quarterly non-financial accounts is equal to total revenue and expenditure in annual non-financial accounts. The first three quarters always show the best estimate of transactions based on available quarterly data sources and assessment methods.

Table I2 Main macro aggregates of general government in ESA 2010 accounts

The source of data for the compilation of Table I2 is the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and the methodological basis for the compilation of macro aggregates of indicators in Table I2 is the same as for indicators in Table I1.

Table I2 shows the annual sequence of accounts of the general government sector according to ESA 2010, which describes the economic cycle from production and generation of income, through its distribution and redistribution, to use of disposable income for final consumption. The difference between disposable income and final consumption is the value of net saving that can be further used to accumulate non-financial or financial assets.

Non-financial accounts of the sector consist of current accounts and the capital account as the accumulation account. Current accounts include the production account, the generation of income account, the allocation of primary income account, the secondary distribution of income account and the use of disposable income account. Current accounts show resources, i.e. transactions that add to the economic value, and uses, i.e. transactions that reduce the economic value. The capital account shows changes in non-financial assets and liabilities and net worth of the sector. Aggregates that close out individual accounts are called balancing items and they can be presented on a gross or net basis. Gross value is the value before corrections for consumption of fixed capital.

The production account shows the total value of goods and services produced in a reference period. Total production for the government sector as a non-market producer is defined by means of production costs, i.e. it is equal to the sum of intermediate consumption, consumption of fixed capital, compensation of employees and taxes less subsidies on production. The difference between production and intermediate consumption is gross value added of the general government sector, while the sum of gross value added by all sectors in the economy is the value of gross domestic product according to the production approach.

The generation of income account is actually the first account of primary income allocation where the value added generated by production is distributed to production factors through compensation of employees and to the government through taxes and subsidies on production to generate a net operating surplus, which is according to ESA equal to zero for a non-market producer. The following account presents primary allocation of property income, i.e. interest, dividends and rent to owners of financial and non-financial non-produced assets, and taxes which the government receives on production and imports, as well as net subsidies as paid current transfers on production and products. The secondary distribution of income account shows revenues and expenditures from taxes on income and wealth and other current transfers. The resources side of the same account shows net social contributions, while the uses side shows social transfers in cash and in kind. Both accounts show effects of one of the basic government functions, that is the redistribution of income. The balancing item of the secondary distribution of income is disposable income which, reduced by final consumption expenditure (in ESA 2010, only general government, households and non-profit institutions serving households have final consumption expenditure) of the government in the next account (the use of disposable income account), shows saving of the general government sector. The capital account, which is the last in the sequence of non-financial accounts, records acquisitions and disposals of non-financial assets and capital transfers. The balancing item of the capital account is net lending/borrowing (the main surplus/deficit measure under ESA), where net lending represents the amount which the sector has available to lend to other sectors, while net borrowing represents the amount the sector must borrow from other sectors. This aggregate is the basic measure of government surplus/deficit under ESA 2010 and it is identical to that in Table I1.