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Concepts and definitions

Capital transfers

Capital transfers are different from current transfers in that they involve the acquisition or disposal of an asset, or assets, by at least one of the parties to the transaction. Regardless of whether the capital transfers are made in cash or in kind, they result in a commensurate change in the financial, or non-financial, assets shown in the balance sheets of one or both parties to the transaction.

Capital transfers consist of capital taxes, investment subsidies and other cap-ital transfers.

Compensation of employees

Compensation of employees (D.1) is defined as the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an employer to an employee in return for work done by the latter during the accounting period.

Compensation of employees is broken down into:

a) wages and salaries (D.11): wages and salaries in cash; wages and salaries in kind;

b) employers’ social contributions (D.12): employers’ actual social contributions (D.121); employers’ imputed social contributions (D.122).

General government total expenditure

General government total expenditure describes the sum of general government's expenditure type. Consolidated expenditure excludes property expenditure, income transfers and capital transfers between general government sub-sectors. Acquisitions of goods and services between general government sub-sectors are not consolidated, however. Thus, total expenditure is to some extent gross expenditure.

The General government, total (S.13) level is usually viewed as consolidated and sub-sector data as unconsolidated.

The ratio of total general government expenditure to gross domestic product is also called the expenditure ratio.

General government total expenditure is calculated by adding together the following expenditure types:

Consolidated/unconsolidated total expenditure =

P22K intermediate consumption or acquired services and goods +

D1K Compensation of employees, payable +

D29K Commodity taxes paid +

D3K Subsidies paid +

D4K Consolidated/unconsolidated property expenditure paid +

D5K Income taxes paid +

D62K Social benefits other than social transfers in kind, payable +

D632K Social transfers in kind, payable

D7K Consolidated/unconsolidated current transfers paid +

D9K Consolidated/unconsolidated capital transfers paid +

P5K Gross capital formation, i.e. investments

NP Net acquisitions of non-produced assets

Gross fixed capital formation

Gross fixed capital formation consists of resident producers' acquisitions, less disposals, of fixed assets. Fixed assets are tangible or intangible assets produced as outputs from processes of production that are themselves used repeatedly, or continuously, in processes of production for more than one year.

Intermediate consumption

Intermediate consumption consists of the value of the goods and services consumed as inputs by a process of production, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as consumption of fixed capital. The goods and services may be either transformed or used up by the production process.

Products used for intermediate consumption should be recorded and valued at the time they enter the process of production. They are to be valued at the purchasers’ prices for similar goods or services at that time.

Other current transfers

Other current transfers (D.7) include:

Net non-life insurance premiums (D.71)

These are premiums payable under policies taken out by institutional units. They comprise both the actual premiums payable by policy holders to obtain insurance cover during the accounting period (premiums earned) and the premium supplements payable out of the property income attributed to insur-ance policy holders, after deducting the service charges of insurance enter-prises arranging the insurance.

Non-life insurance claims (D.72)

These represent the claims due under contracts in respect of non-life insur-ance, i.e. amounts which insurance enterprises are obliged to pay in settle-ment of injuries or damage suffered by persons or goods (including fixed capital goods).

Current transfers within general government (D.73)

Current transfers within general government include transfers between the different sub-sectors of general government (central government, local gov-ernment, social security funds) with the exception of subsidies, investment grants and other capital transfers. Current transfers within general govern-ment do not include transactions on behalf of another unit; these are record-ed only once in the accounts, in the resources of the beneficiary unit on whose behalf the transaction is made. This situation arises particularly when a government agency (e.g. a central government department) collects taxes which are automatically transferred, in total or in part, to another govern-ment agency (e.g. a local authority). In this case, the tax receipts destined for the other government agency are shown as if they were collected directly by that agency and not as a current transfer within general government. On the other hand, transfers of tax receipts which form part of a block transfer from central government to another government agency are included in cur-rent transfers within general government.

Current transfers in international co-operation (D.74).

Current transfers in international cooperation include all transfers in cash or in kind between general government and governments or international organ-isations in the rest of the world, except investment grants and other capital transfers. The following are included:

a) Contributions of the government to international organisations (excluding taxes payable by member governments to supranational organisations)

b) Any current transfers which general government may receive from the in-stitutions or organizations referred to under (a)

c) Current transfers between governments, either in cash (e.g. payments in-tended to finance the budget deficits of foreign countries or overseas territo-ries) or in kind (e.g. counterpart of gifts of food and military equipment, emergency aid after natural disasters in the form of food, clothing, medi-cines, etc.)

d) Wages and salaries paid by a government, an institution of the European Union or an international organisation, to advisers or technical assistance ex-perts made available to developing countries.

Miscellaneous current transfers (D75)

Miscellaneous current transfers include current transfers to non-profit institu-tions, current transfers between households, and other miscellaneous current transfers.

VAT and GNI-based Union own resources (D76)

Property expenditure and income

Property expenditure and income (D.4) are generated when the owners of financial assets or natural resources give such assets to other institutional units for use. Income generated from the use of financial assets is called in-vestment income while the income from the use of natural resources is rent. Property income is the total sum of investment income and rents. Property income is classified as follows:

a) Interest (D.41);

b) Distributed income of corporations (D.42):

1) Dividends (D.421);

2) Withdrawals from income of quasi-corporations (D.422);

c) Reinvested earnings on direct foreign investment (D.43);

d) Other investment income (D.44):

1) Investment income attributable to policyholders in insurance (D.441);

2) Investment income based on pension entitlements (D.442);

3) Investment income from collective mutual funds belonging to sharehold-ers (D.443);

e) Land and natural resource rents (D.45).

Social benefits other than social transfers in kind

Social benefits other than social transfers in kind (D.62) include:

a) Social security benefits in cash are payable to households by social security funds and are provided under social security schemes. E.g. pensions, unemployment benefits.

b) Social assistance benefits in cash are payable to households by government units to meet the same needs as social insurance benefits but are not made under a social insurance scheme incorporating social contributions and social insurance benefits. E.g. living allowances paid by municipalities, child maintenance allowances.

Social transfers in kind

Social transfers in kind consist of individual goods and services provided as transfers in kind to individual households by government units and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs), whether purchased on the market or produced as non-market output by government units or NPISHs.

Subsidies

Subsidies (D.3) are current unrequited payments which general government or the institutions of the European Union make to resident producers, with the objective of influencing their levels of production, their prices or the remuneration of the factors of production. Other non-market producers can receive other subsidies on production only if those payments depend on general regulations applicable to market and non-market producers as well.

Subsidies granted by the Institutions of the European Union cover only current transfers made directly by them to resident producer units.

Subsidies are classified into:

a) subsidies on products (D.31)

(1) import subsidies (D.311)

(2) other subsidies on products (D.319)

b) other subsidies on production (D.39).