Concepts and definitions
- Consolidated financial balance/flows
Financial assets and liabilities can be presented in consolidated form, i.e., after elimination of intra-sectorial transactions within sub-sectors (e.g. debts between municipalities) and between sub-sectors (including municipalities' debts to the state, employment pension corporations and other social security institutions within the general government sector). Consolidated data only show the relative positions of the sectors.
- ESA95
ESA95 manual on government deficit and debt, the updated manual on the European system of national and regional accounts.
- Financial assets category
The financial assets category includes all financial instruments that are described in the financial accounts.
The main classification criteria are the asset's liquidity and the laws that regulate its use. The asset must correspond to an unconditional liability; contingent assets are included only if they have a market value or can be offset against other liabilities.
- Financial deficit
Net borrowing, i.e. negative net lending.
- Financial liabilities
Financial liabilities are economic liabilities that are categorised in the same manner as financial assets. Liabilities represent the counterpart of assets, i.e., an asset of one sector is always recorded as a liability of another sector.
- General government
The term "general government" in ESA 1995 denotes the public sector and includes central government, (federal) constituent states, local government, and social security funds. The Finnish general government sector includes the State, municipalities and intermunicipal authorities, the regional government of the Åland Islands, and social security funds. Unincorporated market producer enterprises owned by the state or municipalities are not included. The state sector includes the state budget economy and extra-budgetary funds.
Social security funds include all institutional units that administer the statutory social security system, such as the Social Insurance Institution, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, funds that manage unemployment and disability schemes, as well as companies, pension institutions, pension funds and public institutions (e.g. the Local Government Pensions Institution) that manage statutory employment pension insurance schemes. Finnish employment pension institutions are classified into the general government sector according to a decision given by the European Commission in January of 1997.
Not included in employment pension institutions are funds and foundations that manage voluntary pension. Prior to the statistical year 2000 these so-called "A" pension funds and foundations and the "A" parts of "AB" pension funds and foundations could not be separately itemised from data gathered from employment pension institutions.
- General government debt
General government debt is public sector consolidated gross debt valued at nominal value, and it is also known as EDP debt data (= Excessive Deficit Procedure).
It comprises promissory note loans, bonds and debentures, short-term securities, other short-term loans and cash received by general government from other sectors of the national economy or from the rest of the world. The EDP debt concept used in reporting according to the European Union's Growth and Stability Pact differs from that of ESA 1995 with regard to valuation and scope. Financial assets and liabilities are valued at market value in ESA95-compliant financial accounts, whereas general government EDP debt is valued at nominal value. Of the financial claims included in ESA95, derivatives, trade credits and advances, and other accounts payable are not included in the loan stock but are taken into account as items that have an impact on changes in the debt.
- General government finances
The general government sector consists of state budget economy (on-budget activities) and extra-budgetary funds (off-budget activities).
- Gross debt
Financial assets have no impact on total gross debt.
- Non-consolidated financial balance/flows
Financial assets and liabilities can be presented in non-consolidated form, i.e. all transactions are shown in full, including intra-sectorial and intra-sub-sectorial transactions. Intra-sectorial transactions in sectors consisting of a single institutional unit are nevertheless eliminated (e.g. borrowing within the central government sector). Intra-sectorial transactions do not have any impact on the sector's net worth or net lending.
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
General government debt by quarter [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-8034. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 8.10.2013].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/jyev/kas_en.html.
Statistics
General government debt by quarter
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