News 16.1.2014
Preliminary estimates on the impact of the national accounts revision
Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has issued preliminary estimates on the impacts of the ESA 2010 revision in Member States. The new methods introduced due to the revision have an effect on the level of GDP in EU Member States. The main methodological changes influencing GDP concern the treatment of expenditure on research and development, as well as on military equipment as investments.
Link to Eurostat's news release
According to preliminary estimates, the GDP level in Finland is expected to rise on account of the methodological changes connected to the adoption of ESA 2010 by approximately four per cent, on average, over the 2000s. In connection with the revision, Statistics Finland will make other time series revisions to national accounts that have an impact on GDP. The overall effect of the changes cannot yet be precisely estimated.
In addition to the gross domestic product, the ESA 2010 revision has an impact on public deficit and debt, for example. At this stage, it is not yet possible to anticipate the impact of the revision on the realisation of the criteria for the public economy set by the EU, which are followed as GDP ratios.
EU Member States will introduce the revised European System of Accounts, ESA 2010 by the end of September 2014. The ESA 2010 revision concerning the EU is consistent with the global methodological revision of national accounts (SNA 2008).
Statistics Finland will start to use ESA 2010 mainly in July 2014. Information on the content and transition timetable of the revision is collected on Statistics Finland's ESA 2010 website.
Further information: Mika Sainio +358 9 1734 2686