Government Finance Statistics – Overview

Introduction

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Which information can I find here?

This section presents statistics used for the Excessive deficit procedure (EDP), including the following key indicators:

  • general government surplus (+) / deficit (-) or net lending (+) / net borrowing (-);
  • general government gross debt.

The section also includes government finance statistics (GFS). GFS show the economic activities of government, including:

  • revenue and expenditure;
  • surplus (+) / deficit (-), referred to in national accounts terminology as net lending (+) / net borrowing (-);
  • transactions and other changes in financial assets and liabilities;
  • balance sheets.

GFS and EDP cover data for the general government sector (S.13) and its four subsectors. For more information see the page ' Information on data' in this section.

Statistics related to the EDP and the underlying GFS form the basis for fiscal monitoring in Europe.

Data cover the euro area, the EU and its Member States. There is also some information available for EFTA countries and EU candidate countries. Data are available on an annual basis and - at a lower level of detail - on a quarterly basis.

How are government finance and EDP statistics measured?

The EDP data are reported in harmonised tables, the EDP Notification Tables. These tables are designed specifically to provide a consistent framework, with a link to national budgetary aggregates and between the government net lending/net borrowing (B.9) and changes in government debt. 

The European Commission uses the EDP statistics to assess whether EU Member States' government deficits and debt levels comply with the relevant EU legislation.

The GFS presentation is similar to that of business accounting where the profit and loss account and the balance sheet are presented together in an integrated manner.

The emphasis is on the economic substance over the legal form of the event. Hence GFS differ noticeably from the budget or public accounting presentations that are nationally specific as far as scope of units and recording of transactions are concerned.

The European GFS are produced in accordance with the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010), supplemented by further interpretation and guidance documentation from Eurostat. This ensures that GFS are based on common concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules, in order to arrive at a consistent, reliable and comparable quantitative description of government finances. EDP statistics should be fully consistent with the GFS data supplied through the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme.

GFS are part of national accounts which cover a wide range of statistics describing an economy in various ways, for instance through main aggregates including GDP, institutional sectors, government finance statistics or supply, use and input-output tables. These topics are presented in different sections of the Eurostat website.

 

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