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EU’s institutions periodically revise the member states’ budget accounts and balance of payments in order to “harmonise” national finances. According to the EU’s recommendations, the member states are supposed to carry out a “benchmark revision” of their national accounts estimates in 2024.
Background
A revised European System of Accounts, so-called ESA 2010, contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of the member states for the statistical requirements of the Union, in order to obtain comparable results among the member states.
Since the objective of the regulation regarding the creation of common statistical standards that permit the production of harmonised national accounts data to achieve overall comparability at Union level, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the states but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity (art. 5 TFEU); beside, in accordance with the principle of proportionality, the regulation does not go beyond “what is necessary in order to achieve that objective”.
Data on information and communication technologies equipment are essential to support the analysis and the policymaking in the context of priority policies relating to digitalisation and the European Green Deal, which aim to reinforce competitiveness and further development of new technologies. Similarly, data on land underlying buildings and structures are important for the analysis of investment and wealth at Union level. The Commission (Eurostat) and national statistical authorities should pursue the methodological work undertaken in this area in recent years with a view to increasing the availability of more detailed data in the context of the future revision of the European system of national and regional accounts.
Periodic updates are needed to take into account the interaction between globalisation, the green and digital transitions and national accounts in order to provide decision-makers with the necessary data and knowledge to ensure competitiveness, financial stability, budgetary resilience, sound public finances and fair tax policy. Furthermore, the 51st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission has already requested the Inter-secretariat Working Group on National Accounts to develop a roadmap for the revision of the System of National Accounts 2008. The revised version of the System of National Accounts is planned to be adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2025.
The update of international manuals on national accounts is necessary, in particular with regard to well-being and sustainability, given that so much of the activity affecting economic well-being of the population occurs beyond the production frontier.
The ESA-2008 revision in 2025 will provide an opportunity to update the internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules in order to address global challenges related to climate change, security, inequality, sustainability and well-being and will be instrumental in supporting policymakers in taking informed decisions to foster economic, social and territorial cohesion, reduce social and gender inequalities and catalyze the green and digital transitions. The Commission should therefore regularly provide the required information and discuss with the European Parliament and the Council the revision of the System of National Accounts 2008 before its conclusion planned for 2025.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-euro-indicators/w/2-04072024-ap
Household saving rate for the fourth quarter of 2023 reduced from 14.7 to 14.1 percent but household investment rate remained at the level of 9.6 percent. The profit share of non-financial institutions in 2023 was at the level of 40.5-40.3 percent and the investment rate non-financial entities have been at the level of 22.4-22.0 percent.
Benchmark revision
The purpose of the “benchmark revision” is to implement changes introduced by the amended ESA-2010 regulation, and to incorporate new data sources and other methodological improvements.
Most of the revised quarterly and annual member states data are expected to be released by Eurostat between June and October 2024, and will be progressively integrated in the EU-wide estimates. The impact of these revisions is expected to be limited, but still noticeable for some European aggregates and more pronounced for certain EU states. The compilation of the European households’ accounts follows the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA-2010) and covers the period from the first quarter of 1999 onwards. The data comes from a first release of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts released by Eurostat.
The household saving rate in the euro area was at 15.3 percent in the first quarter of 2024 (compared with 14.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023); it represents presently the highest saving rate since mid-2020 with about 25 percent. These data come from a first release of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts from Eurostat, the EU statistical office.
More on the issue in the EU Regulation 2023/734 of 15 March 2023 (it shall apply from 1 September 2024) amending Regulation No 549/2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the EU, and repealing 11 legal acts in the field of national accounts.
In: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023R0734