NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

METHODOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

Sources and methods of data collection

The main sources of data are annual final accounts and balance sheets of economic companies and organisations, annual data of tax authorities on operation of unincorporated enterprises and self-employed persons, basic statistical surveys, tax records, financial statistics, balance of payments of the Bank of Slovenia and other sources.

Coverage

The calculation covers all activities following the concept of production by the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA 93) and the 1995 European System of Accounts (ESA 95).

Data presentation

For the 1980-2003 period, the main aggregates of the calculation of GDP by production approach at current prices and employment data are shown.

For the the year 1995 and 1999-2003 period, GDP is shown by the expenditure and production approach at current prices. At constant 1995 prices GDP by production and expenditure approach is shown for the year 1995 and 1999-2000 period and for the 2000-2003 period at constant 2000 prices.

The production and generation of income account by activities and for institutional sectors is given for 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The main aggregates of the system of national accounts for the year 1995 and 1999-2003 period are shown at current prices, for the year 1995 and 1999-2000 period at 1995 prices and for the 2000-2003 period at constant 2000 prices.

Rest of the world account (external current and capital transactions) is shown for the year 1995 and 1999-2003 period.

The main aggregates and categories are, as regards the contents and terminology, harmonised with SNA 93 and ESA 95.

Data comparability

The data on GDP are comparable for the 1980-1994 period. For the 1995-2003 period revised data according to ESA 95 and SNA 93 standards are published. Data for these two periods are not comparable. Methodological changes are explained in GDP Revision 1995-2003. Methodological harmonisation had no effect on the level of the estimation of total value added and gross domestic product.

Definitions and explanations

Output equals the value of finished products and performed services from the beginning to the end of the year. Since 1994 the output by fields of activities has been evaluated at basic prices, from which all taxes on products and services are excluded, but all subsidies on products and services are included. Output includes market output, output for own final use and other non-market output (output of individual non-market services produced by government and non-profit institutions serving households and output of collective services produced by government).

Intermediate consumption is given at purchaser’s prices as the value of goods and services which are purchased by an individual producer in order to produce other goods and services. These comprise all products with the life time up to one year and value up to EUR 300 if life time is over one year, and services of current repair and maintenance which do not increase the value and life time of fixed assets.

Value added at basic prices equals the output at basic prices, reduced by intermediate consumption at purchaser’s prices. Value added at basic prices also equals the sum of compensation of employees, other taxes on production, less other subsidies on production, and the sum of gross operating surplus and gross mixed income.

Taxes on products are all taxes and import duties, turnover taxes by goods and services, special duties on petrol, cigarettes, alcohol, gambling and slot machines, and taxes on real estate transactions.

Other taxes on production are taxes which are paid by enterprises for the use of certain fixed assets, and taxes on labour force as production input.

Subsidies on products are irrevocable payments to market producers, made by government institutions. Since 1994, other subsidies on production with which the government subsidises employment have been eliminated from this category.

Gross domestic product equals value added at basic prices, increased by taxes on products, and reduced by subsidies on products. Gross domestic product thus equals the sum of value added at basic prices of all domestic (resident) production units and net taxes on products (taxes less subsidies on products).

Consumption of fixed capital is in the estimation of gross domestic product taken from the data in final accounts and balance sheets of enterprises and organisations. In housing activity and in activities of self-employed persons and unincorporated individual enterprises of households, the consumption of fixed capital is estimated separately.

Compensation of employees are gross wages, gross wage compensations (sick benefits up to one month and compensation of wages during annual vacation, holidays, etc.), personal allowances, and employers’ social contributions. Personal allowances comprise expenses for food, transport to and from work, reimbursement for annual vacation, all gross payments of employers for contract, temporary or part-time employment. In defense services all expenditure on soldiers’ food is part of compensation of employees.

Operating surplus is the residual category of value added in financial and non-financial corporations and in housing activities of households. The category can be shown either as net or gross, together with consumption of fixed capital. In non-market activities, gross operating surplus equals the consumption of fixed capital.

Mixed income is the residual category in the calculation of value added of self-employed persons and unincorporated enterprises of households. The category can be shown either as net or gross, together with consumption of fixed capital.

Employment covers all permanently employed persons according to the domestic concept, and self-employed persons in agriculture and other household activities.

Implicit deflator is index calculated as dividing the data in current prices with data in constant prices.

Final consumption expenditure is composed of the aggregates individual consumption expenditure and collective consumption expenditure. Individual consumption is composed of expenditure of households, non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) and individual government expenditure. Individual government expenditure comprises payments for non-market government services (education, health, social care, culture, sport, etc.) and market goods and services (pharmaceutical and therapeutical products, concessions to private sector, health resort services, etc.). Collective government expenditure consists of expenditure on administrative, defence, economic, R&D and other non-market government services. Government and NPISHs final consumption expenditures are calculated as the difference between the output value by the cost method and sales.

Gross capital formation is composed of gross fixed capital formation, increase in stocks and acquisitions less disposals of valuables. Gross fixed capital formation consists of investments into new fixed assets, costs of transactions of existing fixed assets and of additions to the value of non-produced assets.

Increase in stocks is calculated for work-in-progress and finished goods at producers, stocks of trade goods in stores, and stocks of raw material, spare parts, etc., at all market producers. At non-market producers costs of goods equal current purchase. In the analysis of expenditure structure of gross domestic product the aggregate increase in stocks contains a statistical error as a difference between the estimation of gross domestic product by the production method and by the expenditure method.

Exports and imports of goods cover exports and imports of goods in connection with processing by gross principle. The export value of goods is calculated by FOB and the import value of goods has been reduced from CIF to FOB according to the data supplied by the Bank of Slovenia. From 1994 on statistically uncovered transactions of exports and imports of goods with the rest of the world have been included according to balance of payment data. Exports and imports of services are taken from the balance of payments according to the data and methodology of the Bank of Slovenia, except the value of investment work abroad, which was until 1994 estimated from the data of construction statistics, and direct purchase of non-residents in Slovenia and residents abroad, which are statistical estimates. Recent methodological changes and completion of the balance of payments, which have been published from 1996 on (with data from 1994 on), were taken into consideration in this Yearbook.

Main aggregates of national accounts at current prices

Gross national income equals the sum of gross domestic product and balance of primary incomes (from labour and capital) with the rest of the world.

Gross national disposable income equals the sum of gross national income and the balance of current transfers with the rest of the world.

Gross saving equals gross national disposable income less final consumption expenditures (individual and collective final consumption).

Net saving equals gross saving less consumption of fixed capital.

Balance of current external transactions equals gross saving less gross capital formation.

Net lending (+), net borrowing (-) with the rest of the world equals the balance of current external transactions plus the balance of current capital transfers with the rest of the world less net acquisitions of non-produced non-financial assets with the rest of the world.

Main aggregates of national accounts at constant prices

Real gross domestic income, real gross national income, real gross national disposable income, real gross saving and real net saving are main aggregates of national accounts at constant prices. The estimation of these aggregates at constant prices is based on valuation of trading gains or losses due to change in the terms of trade (T) using the standard formula:

where T = change in the terms of trade

X = exports at current prices

M = imports at current prices

Px = the price index for exports

Pm = the price index for imports

P = (Px + Pm)/2.

Real net primary income and real net current transfers from the rest of the world are estimated using the implicit price index for domestic final consumption expenditures and consumption of fixed capital by using the implicit price index for gross fixed capital formation.

Rest of the world account

The account shows the position of the rest of the world in current transactions with Slovenia. Some transactions are in this account shown differently than in the balance of payments, which is in addition to external trade statistics the basic data source for the rest of the world account compilation. Insurance services are in the rest of the world account shown in line with output calculation of insurance services. Payments of transport and other services abroad via tour operators and tourist agencies are covered in imports of services and not in imports of "travel" as in the balance of payments which shows them as expenditures abroad of resident households.

GDP Revision 1995-2003

This issue of the Statistical Yearbook includes revised data of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 1995-2003 period by output, income and expenditure method and new estimation on employment. The main purpose of the GDP revision is further harmonization of current GDP estimates with the European System of Accounts 1995 (ESA 95). Besides methodology improvements and adjustments with ESA 1995, the main purpose of the revision is improvement on exhaustiveness of the GDP estimates in line with Council Directive 89/130 on harmonization of gross national product at market prices compilation (89/130/EEC, EURATOM). GDP revision is based on co-operation and support by Eurostat in the 1999-2003 period and includes recommendations and conclusions of task forces and the pilot project on exhaustiveness of the GDP estimates, which were organised by Eurostat (Source: Rapid reports, National accounts No. 78, 27 March 2003).

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