National Institute of Statistics of Romania

General Direction of National Accounts and Macroeconomic Synthesis

16 Libertatii Bvd., Bucharest 5, Romania

Postal code 050706 

National accounts data concern all data produced and disseminated for an economy according to the definitions and guidelines of the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010).

National accounts provide data for the total economy, but may also include breakdowns of the total economy (into sectors, industries, products, regions, etc.). National accounts provide data for several domains:  annual and quarterly national accounts (main aggregates), sector accounts, financial accounts, supply and use and input-output tables, regional accounts and government finance statistics.

One of the main aggregates of national accounts is the change rate of the price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP), which indicates the economic development of a country of region and is also referred to as economic growth rate.

In Eurobase, countries' data are presented following the usual data structure.

At national level, data are commonly available for:

- annual and quarterly national accounts: 'main aggregates'

- annual and quarterly sector accounts

- annual financial accounts and balance sheets

- supply and use and input-output tables

- annual and quarterly government finance statistics data: 'main aggregates', quarterly financial government accounts and government debt

- regional breakdowns of main national accounts variables and household accounts

- industry breakdowns of main national accounts variables

- detailed data on taxes, social contributions and government expenditure by function

- pension entitlements in social insurance

The ESA 2010 provides a methodology on common standards, definitions, internationally harmonised classifications and accounting rules that are used for compiling national accounts on comparable bases.

The ESA 2010 defines classifications to be used for: institutional sectors, transactions in products, transactions in non-financial non-produced assets, distributive transactions, transactions in financial assets and liabilities, other changes in assets, balancing and net worth items, balance sheet entries, non-financial assets, financial assets and liabilities.

In addition, for several breakdowns ESA 2010 makes use of other classifications: NACE Rev. 2 for economic activities, CPA 2014 for products by economic activities, COFOG for the functions of government, COICOP for individual consumption by purpose, COPNI for classification of the purposes of non-profit institutions serving households, NUTS 2013 for regional breakdowns.

A full overview of classifications is available in:

- ESA 2010 Chapter 23 Classifications

- Eurostat's RAMON classification database

 Romania uses the national classifications Classification of activities from national economy (CAEN Rev.2) and associated Classification of products and services linked to activities (CPSA 2008) which are fully compatible with NACE Rev.2, respectively with CPA 2008.

National accounts describe the total economy of a country. All units that have their centre of predominant economic interest in the economic territory of that country are covered.

In addition, several breakdowns of the total are described. Two of the most important breakdowns are the breakdown by institutional sector and the breakdown by NACE Rev. 2 activity. Exhaustiveness is required for each of the breakdown items.

Concerning the institutional sector breakdown, ESA 2010 distinguishes five mutually exclusive domestic institutional sectors: (a) non-financial corporations; (b) financial corporations; (c) general government; (d) households; (e) non-profit institutions serving households. The five sectors together make up the total domestic economy. Each sector is also divided into subsectors.

Regarding the activity breakdown, ESA 2010 applies NACE Rev.2. Activities can be broken down into several levels of detail, for example into 3, 10, 21, 38, 64 or 88 activities. At the 'highest' level a breakdown into 3 categories is defined: (a) agriculture, forestry and fishing; (b) mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity gas steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities, construction; (c) services.

All statistical concepts and definitions to be used in national accounts are described in Annex A of the ESA 2010 Regulation (link to blue book on ESA2010 methodology). The two main sets of tables concern: (a) the institutional sector accounts; (b) the input-output framework, and the accounts by industry.

The sector accounts provide, by institutional sector, a systematic description of the different stages of the economic process: production, generation of income, distribution of income, redistribution of income, use of income and financial and nonfinancial accumulation. The sector accounts also include balance sheets to describe the stocks of assets, liabilities and net worth at the beginning and the end of the accounting period. The variables/concepts described in the sector accounts include transactions in products, transactions in non-produced non-financial assets, distributive transactions, transactions in financial assets and liabilities, other changes in assets, non-financial and financial assets and liabilities.

The input-output framework, through the supply and use tables, sets out in more detail the production process (cost structure, income generated and employment) and the flows of goods and services (output, imports, exports, final consumption, intermediate consumption and capital formation by product group). These variables are broken down by industry (NACE Rev. 2) and product (CPA 2014).

ESA 2010 also encompasses concepts of population and employment. Such concepts are relevant for the sector accounts, the accounts by industry and the supply and use framework.

Regional accounts provide regional breakdowns for major aggregates such as gross value added by industry, gross fixed capital formation and household income. Regional breakdowns are based on the NUTS classification. National accounts concepts are also used for regional accounts.

In addition Annex A of the ESA 2010 Regulation addresses and defines numerous other concepts and definitions, such as the definition of: statistical units and their groupings, flows and stocks, accounting rules (valuation, time of recording, consolidation and netting).  The main features and principles for the compilation of national accounts can be found in Chapter 1.

Following the ESA 2010 guidelines, in national accounts two types of units and two corresponding ways of subdividing the economy are used: (a) institutional unit; (b) local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU). The first type is used for describing income, expenditure and financial flows as well as balance sheets. The second type of units is used for the description of production processes, for input-output analysis and for regional analysis.

An institutional unit is an economic entity characterised by decision-making autonomy in the exercise of its principal function. A resident unit is regarded as constituting an institutional unit in the economic territory where it has its centre of predominant economic interest if it has decision-making autonomy and either keeps a complete set of accounts, or is able to compile a complete set of accounts.

A local KAU groups all the parts of an institutional unit in its capacity as producer which are located in a single site or in closely located sites, and which contribute to the performance of an activity at the class level (four digits) of the NACE Rev. 2.

An institutional unit comprises one or more local KAUs; a local KAU belongs to one and only one institutional unit.
 

In Romania, for the scope of input-output/ supply and use tables compilation, the unit of homogenous production grouped into homogenous branches is distinguished to describe production-related interactions.

The national accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units (institutional units or local KAUs, see section 3.5). A unit is a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of predominant economic interest on the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more) in economic activities on this territory.

National accounts are exhaustive. This means that all resident statistical units are covered.

The reference area for national accounts is the total economy of a country. The total economy of a country can be broken down into regions. The NUTS classification provides a single, uniform breakdown of the economic territory of the Member States of the EU.

National accounts data are usually compiled for years and quarters.

In general, the ESA 2010 transmission programme requires data starting in 1995 (years) and 1995Q1 (quarters) but some series start later. If backwards data exist, they may have been compiled according to earlier versions of ESA and can present conceptual breaks with those compiled under ESA2010. 

Romania provides national accounts data series based on ESA 2010 starting, in general, with year 1995. The quarterly sector accounts series start with 1999. The series of data for 1989-1994 are based on ESA 79 (available on national databases TEMPO-online). No national accounts data are available before year 1989.

The concept of 'base period' is not applied in national accounts. Instead, for some national accounts variables the concepts of previous year prices and chain-linked volumes are applied, as stipulated in Commission Decision 98/715/EC. Expressing variables at the prices of the previous year allows the calculation of volume indices between the current time period and the previous year. After a reference period is chosen as a benchmark, volume indices can be chain-linked and then applied to variables at current prices of the benchmark year. This generates volume estimates for any period of observation.

Romania currently uses 2000 as reference year for the compilation of chain-linked volumes for quarterly national accounts. The method to compile quarterly chain-linked volume is the annual overlap method. The quarterly national accounts are also compiled based on over the year approach, in order to lead to undistorted year-on-year growth rates for all quarters. For annual accounts, constant price estimates are based on previous year prices. The year 2010 is the reference year for the compilation of chain-linked volumes.

With the exception of some variables concerning population and labour that are usually expressed in number of persons, hours or jobs, the ESA 2010 system in Romania shows all flows and stocks in monetary terms: in euros or other national currency. Flows and stocks shall be measured according to their exchange value, i.e. the value at which flows and stocks are in fact, or could be, exchanged for cash. Market prices are, thus, the ESA's reference for valuation.

In addition to measurement in current (market) prices, some national accounts variables are also expressed in previous year's prices and chain-linked volumes, see section 3.9. Furthermore, it is possible to derive growth rates and indices, and various other measures '(e.g. percentages, per capita data, data expressed in purchasing power standards)' can be applied as well.

The usual reference period to be used for presenting national accounts data is the calendar year for annual data and the quarter for quarterly data.

Two basic kinds of information are recorded: flows and stocks. Flows refer to actions and effects of events that take place within a given period of time (year or quarter), while stocks refer to positions at a point of time (usually the beginning or end of a year or quarter).

National accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) which was published in the Official Journal as Annex A of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013. The ESA 2010 transmission programme is covered in Annex B

The ESA 2010 has the form of a Regulation and it provides for:

• a methodology (Annex A) on common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules that shall be used for compiling accounts and tables on comparable bases (link to blue book on ESA 2010 methodology);
• a programme of data transmission (Annex B) setting out the time limits by which Member States shall transmit to Eurostat the accounts and tables (link to ESA 2010 transmission programme).

Temporary derogations to the data transmission requirements have been granted to Member States, up to 2020, by the Commission Implementing Decision 2014/403/EU of 26 June 2014 thus allowing national data to deviate temporarily from the ESA 2010 transmission requirements.

Some other legal acts with relevance for national accounts concern:

- Commission Decision 98/715 of 30 November 1998 and Commission Decision 2002/990 of 17 December 2002 on measurement of price and volumes in national accounts.

- Legal act on the excessive deficit procedure

Several separate acts, often regarding classifications such as: NACE Rev.2, CPA 2014, COFOG, COICOP, NUTS 2013.

On the Eurostat website, sections 'National accounts'  and 'Government finance and EDP', more legal acts relevant for national accounts can be found.

National accounts methodology in Romania is legally recognized by the Order no. 193/2009 of the President of National Institute of Statistics on establishing the Methodology of non-financial national accounts elaboration in Romania.

National accounts data are key datasets used and published by many international organisations to improve data consistency and exploit synergies for data collection and validation. An initiative to improve data sharing for National Accounts was launched in 2016 by the Inter-Agency Group on Economic and Financial Statistics (comprising representatives of the Bank for International Settlements, the European Central Bank, Eurostat, the IMF, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, and the World Bank)  under the G20 Data Gap Initiative.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society. The European Statistics Code of Practice provides further conditions that have to be respected by statistical offices in regard to statistical confidentiality (Principle 5).

 NIS of Romania has established the “Confidentiality norms for statistical data” (posted on NIS web-site), which is based on following legal acts:

-          Law no. 226/2009 regarding organization and functioning of official statistics in Romania, with further amendments;

-          Law no. 677/2001 for protections of persons regarding processing of personal data and the free movements of these data, with further amendments;

-          Law no. 682/2001 on agreement of Convention for protection of persons against personal data processing and the free movement of these data, with further amendments;

-          Directive of European Parliament and Council no. 46/1995 (EC) on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data;

-           Regulation no. 223/2009 of European Parliament and Council of 11 March 2009;

-          Commission Regulation no. 557/2013 of 17 June 2013 implementing Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European Statistics as regards access to confidential data for scientific purposes;

-     European Statistics Code of Practice for National and Community Statistical Authorities on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities

In a statistical sense, ‘confidential data’ means data which allow statistical units to be identified, either directly or indirectly, thereby disclosing individual information. To determine whether a statistical unit is identifiable, account shall be taken of all relevant means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the statistical unit. Although national accounts data are usually highly aggregated, there may be possible cases for detailed breakdowns of aggregates and/or small economies. In these cases measures should be taken in order not to disclose data of a separate statistical unit. Guidance on how to prevent disclosure can be found in the Handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control.

Good practice requires that new national accounts data and associated news releases are announced in a release calendar that is published well in advance of the respective releases.

 On the web-site of NIS_RO, there is annually published (before starting the current year) the Catalogue of publications for that year, announcing the exact calendar date when the publications are available in paper format and on electronic format (National accounts are included in the section “Synthesis publications”).

The calendar of press release is also published in advance, for the whole year, on the web-site of NIS_RO.

Release calendars should be easily available and accessible for users, e.g. by publication on the website of an NSI.

In Romania, the publications containing national accounts data could be found (in the sections “Synthesis publications”) on the website of NIS:

http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/catalog/Catalogul-publicatiilor_INS_2018.pdf

 For year 2018, the following national calendar of press releases is available on the website of NIS:

http://www.insse.ro/cms/ro/comunicate-de-presa-view?field_categorie_value_i18n%5B%5D=6&created=1&field_cuvinte_cheie_value=&items_per_page=60

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice (Principle 6 on impartiality and objectivity, Principle 13 on timeliness and punctuality and Principle 15 on accessibility and clarity), national accounts data that meet the quality standards, including relevant metadata, should be made available to users. Users should be informed when the data become available and how they can be accessed.

Romania has implemented the European Statistic Code of Practice, so all national accounts data that meet the quality standards are accessible to the public. The releases are announced on the website of NIS_RO. The systematic metadata are found in the TEMPO-online databases and specific methodological notes on the website of NIS_RO.

Moreover, specific data and metadata requirements are received and solved upon request via the Department in charge with dissemination of statistical information of which rules of access is posted on the website of NIS_RO:

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/content/dissemination-statistical-information

New quarterly national accounts data are published each quarter: 4 times per year. However, depending on circumstances and national practices, initially released quarterly national accounts data may be revised and disseminated again. Annual national accounts data are published at least once a year: when data for a new year are added. But, depending on country practices and revision policy, annual data can also be published more often, e.g. publication of a provisional estimate early in the calendar year and a revised one later in the calendar year.

In Romania, Quarterly national accounts data are first published (flash estimates) within 45 days by the end of reference quarter, then the provisional 1 release is published after 65 days to the end of the reference quarter, and the provisional 2 release is available after 90 days. Also, the half-year and 9 months quarterly data are published, together with the corresponding quarter.

Annual national accounts for year Y are released and published three times: in the provisional version (at the end of the first quarter of the next year), in the semi-final version at Y+12 months and in final version at Y+21 months.

The most important results of national accounts are issued in news releases. New key national accounts data may also be presented in press conferences or press briefings. The exact dates are pre-announced in release calendars (see section 8.1 above).

In NIS Romania, Press conferences are not organized on regular basis, usually occurring one per year or at two years, and in special at request from users, being pre-announced. Ad-hoc press releases could be prepared, with announcement usually on the web home-page of NIS, in the cases when more information for specific topics are required by users.

In addition to news releases, national accounts data may be disseminated in other publications, such as statistical papers, yearbooks, internal and external articles. Usually this concerns publications in which more in-depth analysis is carried out.

NIS Romania disseminates the national accounts data in the following publications (available on paper and on electronic support): Romanian Statistical Yearbook, Romania in Figures, Economic and Social Situation of Romania, National Accounts, Regional National Accounts, Romania in the European Union, Monthly Statistical Bulletin, Summary of key socio-economic indicators.

In order to enable easy access to national accounts data, all validated national accounts data should be made available to users by publishing them in an online database.

NIS Romania has a database called TEMPO-Online with free access (from the NSI website), in which all national accounts data compiled by NIS are available, grouped in six sections: 1.Macroeconomic indicators on employment; 2.Main aggregates per inhabitant; 3.Input-output tables; 4.Integrated economic accounts tables; 5.Regional gross domestic product; 6.Quarterly gross domestic product.

The links to TEMPO are:

http://statistici.insse.ro/shop/index.jsp?page=tempo2&lang=ro&context=35  in Romanian

http://statistici.insse.ro/shop/index.jsp?page=tempo2&lang=en&context=35 in English

Not applicable.

In addition to news releases and other publications (see sections 10.1 and 10.2), information on national accounts may be posted using social media.

NIS Romania has a Facebook page on which the new statistical information is posted or where the users could directly contact NIS. Since now, no special posts on national accounts were necessary

The general methodological framework for the compilation of national accounts in the EU is ESA 2010.

In addition, several handbooks have been developed to help compilers to produce national accounts data. Some of the most important methodological manuals are the Handbook on quarterly national accounts, Manual on regional accounts methods, Eurostat Manual of Supply, Use and Input-Output Tables, Manual on Government Deficit and Debt. Also, guidance manuals on specific topics are available, e.g. compilation guide on land estimation, compilation guide on inventories, Manual on measuring Research and Development in ESA 2010.

The manuals above specifically apply to EU national accounts statistics. However, world-wide equivalents are often also available: SNA 2008, Quarterly National Accounts Manual, Handbook on Input-Output Table Compilation and Analysis, Government Finance Statistics Manual.

On the Romanian NIS web-site there are posted several methodological documents (in Romanian and/or English language), regarding: Implementing the changes linked to treatment of reservations and of ESA 2010 in Romanian national accounts, Implementation of ESA 2010 in Romanian national accounts, Estimation of illegal activities, Explanations on GDP and QGDP, Explanations on governmental deficit and debt, Methodological notes on pension estimates on national accounts  a.s.o., see following links:

http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/Conturi_ESA2010/SEC_2010_site_ro.htm

http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/statistici/comunicate/pib/a17/precizari_metodologice_tr4_1.pdf

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/content/gross-domestic-product

http://www.insse.ro/cms/ro/content/nivelul-datoriei-si-deficitului-guvernamental

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/content/esa2010-impact

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/content/accrued-date-pension-entitlements

The importance of national accounts requires that documentation should be available on the procedures applied for quality management and quality assessment. Examples of such documentation are national accounts quality reports, quality studies and reports on revision analysis.

Quality of national accounts data is assured by strict application of ESA 2010 concepts and by applying the guidelines of the ESS handbook for quality reports.

During the overall compilation process, national and regional accounts data undergo several kinds of quality checks, e.g. ex-ante (source statistics), ongoing (results), ex-post (methods used) and external checks (Eurostat, European or national Court of Auditors, IMF).

The Declaration of quality for overall Romanian statistics is posted on the NIS website: http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/eurostat/Declaratia%20de%20Calitate%20a%20INS.pdf

The national practice could be reported, for example by providing a link to the national quality report delivered by Eurostat or other nationally released quality reports (or providing a summary description of its content).

National accounts data provide key information for economic policy monitoring and decision making, for forecasting, for administrative purposes, for informing the general public about economic developments (directly or indirectly via news agencies), and as input for economic research.

At national level, ministries of finance and regional development, scientific and academic communities and economic researchers are usually the entities who most use national and regional accounts data. Please complete if appropriate.

The other important users of Romanian national accounts data are international institutions as following: European Commission/ Eurostat, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, World Bank, a.s.o.

Views and opinions of users of national accounts statistics can be collected and analysed as one of the tools to 'measure' the relevance of national accounts data.

Periodically, NIS of Romania runs a user satisfaction survey, regarding the statistical data in general (not addressed specifically to national accounts). The last survey of year 2016 could be found (in Romanian language) at the following link: http://www.insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/field/publicatii/analiza_gradului_de_satisfactie_al_utilizatorilor.pdf

In most countries national accounts cover the domains national accounts main aggregates, government accounts, sector accounts regional accounts and supply and use tables. However, the content of the data on these domains as well as the (details of the) various breakdowns (by region, sector, industry, product, etc.) may deviate per country, depending on national needs and available sources.

The ESA 2010 transmission programme, consisting of 22 tables across all national accounts domains (see section10.3) defines the minimum national accounts data set that must be available in all Member States of the EU.

The overall completeness of Romanian National Accounts data series since 1995 as required by the ESA2010 transmission programme was relatively high, being improved in 2017 comparing to 2016 for National Accounts Main Aggregates (NAMA) and Non-Financial Sector Accounts (NFSA).

In terms of mandatory data, Romania provided complete datasets for nearly all tables, excepting derogations.

Romania has also provided substantial information on voluntary basis. This holds particularly for Government Finance Statistics and Supply-Use Input-Output Tables.

The national practice could be filled in: you can refer to your national quality report and more specifically to the revision analysis in your quality report.

For Romania, information concerning revision policy for non-financial  national accounts domain can be found at the following link:

http://www.insse.ro/cms/en/content/revision-policy

The financial accounts are revised in connection with the revision of major data sources (government statistics, balance of payments/international investment positions and monetary and financial statistics). Alignment between EDP statistics and financial accounts implies revisions for the last four years data. For the time being, this procedure is not published.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

National accounts data should become available to users as timely as possible, taking into account the frequency of the data (annual or quarterly), the character of the data (info on the structure of an economy or on conjuncture developments) and an adequate balance between accuracy and timeliness.

The ESA 2010 transmission programme defines the required timeliness for all national accounts tables. Quarterly tables should become available between 2 and 3 months after the quarter-end. The annual tables have to be transmitted between 2 months (main aggregates) and 36 months (supply and use tables) after the end of the reference year.

Good practice requires that the dates on which national accounts data become available are pre-announced and that the pre-announced publication dates are met.

National accounts data transmissions in the framework of the ESA 2010 transmission programme should be punctually delivered to Eurostat at the timeliness defined in the transmission programme (or before).

In 2017, Romania has transmitted required data in a timely manner.

The geographical comparability of national accounts in Member States of the EU is ensured by the application of common definitions of the European System of Accounts ESA 2010). Worldwide geographical comparison is also possible as most non-European countries apply the SNA 2008 guidelines, and SNA 2008 is consistent with ESA 2010.

As the data for all reference periods are compiled according to the requirements of the ESA 2010, national accounts data are fully comparable over time. Also, in the case of fundamental changes to methods or classifications, revisions of long time series are performed, usually going far back into the past.

Within the system of national accounts there is full consistency between the domains: annual and quarterly national accounts, government accounts, sector accounts, financial accounts, regional accounts, supply and use tables. However, in practice full consistency may not always be possible and temporary discrepancies might occur. They are usually the result of vintage differences.

Primary statistics like structural business statistics (SBS), short term statistics (STS) and labour force statistics (LFS) are widely used as input for national accounts. However, there is no full consistency between these statistical domains and national accounts. Main reasons are differences in concepts/definitions and in coverage. Balance of payments is also used as an important source for national accounts. The definitions and coverage of balance of payments, as defined in the BPM6 manual, are fully harmonised with those in ESA 2010. Therefore, balance of payments variables are in principle fully coherent with the corresponding national accounts variables. 

National Accounts for Romania faces with an inconsistency problem between Supply-Use Tables and Sector accounts because of many successive backwards revisions of General Government accounts for Excessive Debt Procedure (EDP) reporting.

It was not possible to revise the SUTs (on which GDP is estimated) and the sector accounts -  which were initially consistent at the moment when were compiled -  each time when a revision of general government accounts was done (sometimes twice a year). An exceptional revision was planned for the year 2018, aiming to progressively made consistent the General government accounts with Sector accounts and Supply-use tables.

See section 15.3 (Coherence - cross domain).

The internal coherence of the Romanian national accounts data was high. Romanian data were also coherent regarding the additivity of series

Not available.

National accounts data are subject to continuous revisions as new input data become available. They are called routine revisions and entail regular revisions of country data and of the European aggregates, which are derived from the former.

More rarely, exceptional revisions (called benchmark revisions) will result from major changes in data sources, classifications or methodology. For example, when changing from ESA95 to ESA 2010, a benchmark revision occurred at country level and at euro area/EU data level.

Two Task Forces developed proposals for a more harmonised approach for benchmark and routine revisions. The one under the auspices of the Directors of Macroeconomic Statistics (DMES) dealt with benchmark revision policy, the other under the auspices of the Committee on Monetary, Financial, and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) on the European Harmonised Revision Policy dealing with routine revisions. 

Romania has a revision policy for National Accounts. The information regarding revision policy of National Accounts is published on the Romania's statistical office website. Regarding revision policy implementation, Romania is partial adherent to the amended harmonized European revision policy agreed by the CMFB in June 2017. The recommended harmonized revision policy is not fully applied which allows for temporary inconsistencies.

While revisions should be seen as a process to progressively improve the quality of national accounts as e.g. better sources and/or methods become available, the availability of metadata on revisions is a key element for understanding  national accounts data and revisions between subsequent releases.

Therefore, information on the main reasons for revisions and their nature (new source data available, new methods, etc.) as well as possibly quantitative and qualitative assessment on the average size of revisions and their direction based on historical data is required.

In 2017, Romania performed no major routine or benchmark revisions on national accounts.

National and regional accounts compilation builds up on statistics that are primarily collected for other purposes (primary statistics).

It relies on a variety of data sources, including administrative data: car and business registers, accounting statements, tax data, budgetary reports, population censuses, statistical surveys of businesses and households, statements of supervising institutions and branch organisations, annual and quarterly reports, trade statistics on goods and services, balance of payments information.

There is no single survey source for national accounts. Sources vary from country to country and provide statistical information on a large set of economic, social, financial and environmental phenomena, which may not be strictly related to national accounts.

Sources and collection methods used in each country vary depending on the specific dataset.

Overall, it is difficult to be exhaustive in the listing of data sources. Inventories provided to Eurostat usually include information on main sources (see section 10.6). Further information on data sources can be found on the national websites.

The methodology of Romanian national accounts, including a description of data sources, is available in the metadata part of TEMPO-online databases (in Romanian language):

http://statistici.insse.ro:8077/tempo-online/#/pages/tables/insse-table

National accounts are usually compiled on an annual or quarterly basis from other primary statistics. The frequency of data collection of primary statistics varies according to the nature of the data source. For example, business statistics are typically available on a monthly (and quarterly) basis. Some households' surveys are available on quarterly or annual frequency (sometimes even less frequent). Availability of administrative data varies from country to country. Population censuses are mostly collected every decade.

The frequency and timing of the compilation of national accounts are not necessary aligned with the frequency and timing of (all) primary statistics data collections.

National accounts departments typically receive/collect information in relation to their compilation schedule, i.e. for their annual or quarterly estimates. Countries can provide a description of the time of receiving external data.

 The monthly data (from short-term statistics of industry, service and trade, consumer prices, and administrative data from execution of the consolidated budget) used for quarterly estimates for the flash estimates (T+45 days) are available mostly from press releases. Data for the provisional 1 (T+70 days) and provisional 2 (T+90 days) estimates of quarterly national accounts are available from the monthly publications of short-term statistics on industry, services and trade, investment and construction, consumer prices, transport, employment, the data from Economic accounts in agriculture, the households surveys results on labour force and budgets, the published administrative data on balance of payments and execution of the consolidated budget.   

For the annual national accounts, statistical and administrative data are available partially for the semi-final version (Y+12 months) and all necessary data sources are available for final version (Y+21 months).

The data collection is very country specific and also varies according to the nature of the data source, e.g. administrative data, tax and car registers, surveys, accounting statements.  Guidance can be found in the Handbook of Recommended Practices for Questionnaire Development and Testing Methods in the ESS.

National accounts departments typically do not collect data themselves but receive them from other departments or institutions. Countries can provide a more detailed description of the channels by which external data are collected.

The ESS guidelines suggest that the methods used for data collection should be described. It can also be appropriate to complete the section with the following issues: (i) an NSI usually signs an agreement and technical protocol for cooperation with other institutions on what, when, how, etc. the data would be delivered; (ii) national accounts department also participates in the development of the questionnaires of statistical surveys of other departments.

Data validation refers to any activity aimed at verifying that the value of a data item comes from a given set of acceptable values. It is a key task performed in all statistical domains and particularly important for national accounts, which is a key dataset for economic analysis and policy decisions.

In order to increase overall data quality and workflow efficiency, the European Statistical System (ESS) is moving towards more harmonisation of validation activities including the definition of common standards, tools and support for implementation (see ESS validation website). National accounts are a pilot in this area. An ESA 2010 Task Force on validation was established in 2015 to agree and document validation rules in an ESA 2010 validation handbook and progressively implement them in a pre-validation service for national accounts data.

The confrontation of data from different sources is an integral part of the national accounts compilation. Source data used in national accounts undergo a sequence of checks within NSIs. For the validation of national accounts data, country X applies minimum validation rules agreed with Eurostat and provides metadata to support the validation process with respect to revisions and outliers. Further information on validation checks can be found on the website.

Data sources, methods and compilation techniques are country specific, but should be employed in such a way that the definitions and concepts in ESA 2010 are met. Many guidance documents on general and specific national accounts compilation issues are available. See for more details section 10.6.

For related information see also sections 10.6. and 17.1.

In Romania, the leading approach to compile GDP in the framework of annual national accounts is the production approach, followed by expenditure and income approaches. Consistency is obtained via reconciliation and balancing process within supply-uses tables. Notably, part of changes in inventories and valuables and gross operating surplus and mixed income are derived as residuals. The same approach is used for the compilation of quarterly national accounts. Sector accounts are compiled together with main aggregates.

National Accounts for Romania faces with an inconsistency problem between Supply-Use Tables and Sector accounts because of many successive backwards revisions of General Government accounts for Excessive Debt Procedure (EDP) reporting.

The objectives of seasonal adjustment are to identify and remove seasonal fluctuations and calendar effects which can mask short and long-term movements in a time series and impede a clear understanding of underlying phenomena. Seasonal adjustment is therefore a fundamental process in the interpretation of time series to inform policy making (ESS guidelines on seasonal adjustment, 2015 Edition, Annex, point 1).

For selected sub-annual national accounts data, such as notably the quarterly main aggregates, time series are usually not only published in their unadjusted form, but also with various types of adjustment (e.g. seasonal, calendar, trend-cycle).

According to the ESA transmission programme, quarterly data are to be provided in non-seasonally adjusted form, as well as in seasonally adjusted form (including calendar adjustments, where relevant) except for previous year’s prices.

The provision of quarterly data that only include calendar adjustments is voluntary.

For sector accounts, seasonal adjustment (including calendar adjustments, where relevant) is compulsory for a limited set of series.

In Romania, quarterly national accounts are seasonally adjusted, applying seasonal and calendar adjustments, excepting change in inventories. The approach to seasonal adjustment is direct one. The seasonally and calendar adjusted series are not additive because statistical discrepancies are separately revealed. They do not match annual data. The applied seasonal adjustment model is TRAMO-SEATS. The models are usually updated once per year. The used software is JDEMETRA+ version 2.2.0

Methodological note on change of chain linked reference year in Romania (12 October 2023)

1. Changing the reference year and quarterly chain-linking method

INSSE compiles national accounts data according to international standards (SNA 2008), EU regulations on national accounts (ESA 2010), and Eurostat, OECD and IMF handbooks and recommendations.

Data for GDP and main aggregates are regularly expressed in current prices and in prices of previous year (PYP) as well as in chain link volumes (CLV). Compiling national accounts in CLV, as opposed to nominal GDP (in current prices), allows accurate estimations of real GDP and GDP growth rates across years and quarters, which is helpful for economic analyses.

When data is presented in CLV, a specific perido is chosen as reference to express the volumes.

Re-referencing national accounts series means replacing the old reference year by a new/ more recent reference year. The chain-linking with a reference year is purely a statistical technique, which does not affect the national accounts raw series in current prices as well as the growth rates.

For quarterly national accounts, NIS Romania applies the annual overlap technique in compiling the chain linked quarterly data in national accounts, as recommended by Eurostat.

2. The impact of change of reference year in Romanian national accounts

The change of reference year for CLV in Romania is based on the existing national accounts raw series in current prices and in prices of the corresponding period of previous year, which are not changed. The annual growth rates previously calculated from CLV have not been impacted. The re-calculated CLV series for quarterly GDP and components using the annual overlap method and reference year 2020 are a significant improvement, in line with the recommendations of the European System of Accounts 2010.

In complement with re-referencing CLV series, INSSE has updated the seasonal adjustment techniques (using the software JDemetra+). The obtained seasonally adjusted series are used to compile the growth rates for GDP and its components. The differences between the resulted growth rates comparing to the previously published ones are mainly due to the change of models and parameters in the seasonal adjustment techniques and are in general limited in amplitude.