Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT)

The National Accounts and GFS Division of CYSTAT is organized as follows:

1) National Account unit: It is responsible for:

• Main Aggregates (Annual and Quarterly),
• Sector Accounts (Non-financial),
• Financial Accounts by Institutional Sector, Quarterly Financial Accounts of General Government and  Quarterly Government Debt 
• Pension entitlements in Social Insurance,
• Supply and Use, Input output Tables,

2) Government Finance Statistics (GFS) unit: It is responsible for G.F.S Main Aggregates and Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP)

Michalaki Karaoli Street,

1444, Nicosia, CYPRUS

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.).

Data for Cyprus is available at Eurostat database online, and is organised into several domains:  

• annual national accounts (main aggregates and detailed breakdowns)
• quarterly national accounts
• supply and use and input-output tables
• annual sector accounts,
• quarterly sector accounts
• financial accounts,
• government finance statistics.

At national level, data is publicly available in the section 'Economy and Finance' of CYSTAT website (see Annex below)

Data related to National Accounts are divided into three categories:

• National Accounts: Mainly includes the annual and quarterly national accounts: main aggregates, employment and accrued to date pension entitlements in social insurance.
• Public Finance: Covers annual, quarterly and monthly government finance statistics data:main aggregates, detailed data on taxes, social contributions and government expenditure by function.
• Monthly economic indicators: The main short term indicators used for the production of quarterly national accounts.

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 2008 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

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 (S11);

(b) financial corporations (S12);

(c) general government (S13);

(d) households (S14);and

(e) non-profit institutions serving households (S15).

The five sectors together make up the total domestic economy b (S1). 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, acivities are sepated into 3 categories, defined as follows:

(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.

In CYSTAT website data is presented by NACE Rev.2. activity. Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies are excluded by both the economic activities and the products classifications.

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 characterized 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 center of predominant economic interest if it has decision-making autonomy and either keeps a complete set of accounts, or it 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.

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. Cyprus is considered as one region under the NUTS classification and data refers to the Government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus.

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. These series include the following datasets:

• quarterly sector accounts- from 1999Q1
• quarterly financial account of general government - from 1999Q1
• quarterly government debt - from 2000Q1
• cross classification of annual fixed assets by industry and by asset- from 2000
• regional accounts - from 2000
• supply and use/ input-output tables - from 2010
• accrued to date pension entitlements in social insurance- from 2012

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.

Cyprus currently uses 2010 as reference year for the compilation of chain-linked volumes, for both the annual and the quarterly national accounts. The compilation method used for quarterly chain-linked volumes is the annual overlap method.

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 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.

The legal basis for the collection and publication of official statistics in Cyprus is provided by the Statistics Law No. 15 (I) of 2000.  Article 3 of the Law, defines the functions of the Statitsical Service of Cyprus regarding the production and dissemination of official Statistics. In addition, Article 11(1), explicitely stipulates the mandate for data collection and introduces a mandatory response to statistical enquiries by stipulating the obligation of respondents to reply to surveys and provide the data required. This relates not only to national but also to European statistics, which by virtue of Article 15 of the said Law, are incorporated in the annual and five-year programmes of work without any further procedure.

National accounts data are key datasets used and published by many international organizations 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.

In 2015, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed among the Central Bank of Cyprus, the Statistical Service of Cyprus and the Ministry of Finance. The National Accounts and GFS Division of CYSTAT collaborates closely with the Central Bank of Cyprus in order to ensure and facilitate the statistical data exchange. The Central Bank of Cyprus is the main compiler for data related to External Statistics (BOP and IIP) and Financial Accounts (by institutional sector except government).

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).

Official Statistics in Cyprus are released in accordance to all confidentiality provisions of both European and National legislation. In addition to the European Regulation mentioned above, two additional documents are available at National Level:

• National Statistics Law No.15(I) of 2000 (Article 13 refers to statistical confidentiality).
• CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data in accordance with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

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.

Notifications about data availability are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT's website. The release calendar for each year, is announced in advance, during the 4th quarter of the previous year, with provisional dates of publication. These dates are finalised the week before the publication takes place. National Accounts and GFS data that is included in the release calendar are the following:

• Quarterly National Accounts- GDP Growth Rate
• Quarterly/ Annual National Accounts - Employment
• Monthly Economic Indicators
• Quarterly Accounts of General Government
• Fiscal Accounts of General Government (monthly)

The Release Calendar can be found at CYSTAT website, throught the Annex below:

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.

According to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus, CYSTAT's main channel of dissemination of statistics is its website, which offers the same information to everyone and it is updated on the same time every working day (12:00 noon). Privileged pre- released access (of no more than 1 day in advance) has been granted to selected user for specific statistics.

In addition to the annual release calendar, users are informed of the various statistical releases through the "Alert" service provided by CYSTAT.

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

Frequency for Cyprus National Accounts dissemination is the following:

once a year: Annual General Government Expenditure by function

two times per year: Annual National Accounts, General Government Accounts, Taxes and Social Contributions, Employment

one time each quarter: GDP flash estimate (Q+45days), QNA - Production (Q+2 months), QNA - Expenditure (Q+2 months), employment (Q+2 months), Accounts of General Government

The most important results of national accounts are issued in news releases. The exact dates are pre-announced in release calendars (see section 8.1 above).

Regular news releases linked to the publication of national data are announced for data concerning:

• Annual/ Quarterly GDP growth rate
• Annual/ Quarterly Employment statistics
• Monthly Economic Indicators
• Quarterly accounts of General Government
• Monthly Fiscal Accounts of General Government

Add- hoc news releases are also published for:

• National Account major revisions
• EDP publications

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.

Current publications/yearbooks

"Monthly Economic Indicators bulettin", a collection of the main short-term indicators, published bi-monthly in electronic format (pdf and xls).

"Statistical Abstract", includes among other statistics, some major National Accounts data series since 1960. It is available annually, either as a yearbook or in an electronic format (pdf), published in CYSTAT website.

"Accrued to date pension entitlements in Social Insurance", available every 3 years, in electronic format, published in CYSTAT website.

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.

No national database is currently available for Cyprus.

Key figures are available for download in xls spreadsheets on CYSTAT website at the Annex below.

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.

CYSTAT has an active Twitter account: @CYSTAT_EN

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.

 The most important documentation on methodology, is the GNI Inventory that describes the methods and sources used for the calculation of the Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Income of Cyprus within the government controlled area.

Complementary information is included in the Annual Reports on Quality (RQ) transmitted to Eurostat together with the GNI Questionnaire.

Some methodological notes available in CYSTAT website for National Accounts are the following:

1. Chain linking Method used in National Accounts
2. Explanatory Notes for the Major Revisions of National Accounts
3. National Accounts Revision Policy
4. Number of persons Employed and Hours Worked-ESMS

Some methodological notes available in CYSTAT website for Public Finance are the following:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

1. EDP Inventory of Sources and Methods, ESA 2010
2. Reconciliation Table of Article 3 (2) of Directive 2011/85 on Budgetary Frameworks
3. Metadata Template for Eurostat Data Collection of Contingent Liabiities

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.

An annual Quality Report on Cyprus National Accounts is compiled and submitted to Eurostat for assessment and evaluation. Eurostat drafts an assessment report for all member states (see section 11.2)

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 quality of statistics in CYSTAT is managed in the framework of the European Statistics Code of Practice which sets the standards for developing, producing and disseminating European Statistics as well as the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 12 of the Statistics Law No.15(I) of 2000 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European Statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics

Eurostat provides methodological validation of GNI data and EDP data through documentations and country visits for direct verifications. Action points/ reservations may be placed to further enhance the quality of the data.

National Accounts data is assessed and validated through a National Accounts Management System (NAMS) which performs structural and content validation checks before transmitting data to Eurostat. The system was developed by an IT company.

Valuation of quality for Cyprus National Accounts data is presented in the Eurostat assessment report  for all member states, released annually according to Regulation (EU) No 549/2013. This report is available as an annex in the link below.

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.

The main users of National Accounts data are: 

a) at National level: Ministry of Finance, Central Bank, scientific and academic communities, economic researchers, media and students

b) at International level: European Commission, European Central Bank, European Parliament, European Council, IMF, Word Bank, International Agencies, Credit Rating Agencies, researchers and foreign students

CYSTAT carries out an annual online "Users Satisfaction Survey". The survey aims to provide to the users of official statistics, the opportunity to express their opinion as regards quality and accessibility as well as to make suggestions for the further improvement of the products and services offered. The results of the surveys are available on CYSTAT Website at the link attached below.

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 rate of the Cyprus National Accounts data, as required by the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme, was at the highest level (100%).

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.

Cyprus provides information regarding its revision policy and practice for National Accounts and for Annual Financial Accounts. The national revision policy is well documented, comprehensive for National and Financial Accounts and follows the recommendations of the Harmonised European Revision Policy endorsed by the CMFB. It is published in a transparent manner on the CYSTAT website along with explanations on data revisions.

A link to the National Accounts revision policy is provided in Section17.1.

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.

As a general practice Cyprus National Accounts data is transmitted to Eurostat within the legal deadlines. In rare cases 1-2 days delay may occur.

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).

 The overall punctuality of Cyprus National Accounts data is among the highest of all Member States, with all mandatory annual and quarterly tables transmitted in line with legal deadline.

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.

The data is produced according to ESA 2010 from 1995 onwards.

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 labor 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.

The internal coherence of National Accounts data is at the highest level and there is also full coherence in terms of additivity.

See section 15.3 (Coherence - cross domain).

Not available

National accounts data is subjected 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. 

The revision policy for National Accounts in Greek and English language is available in CYSTAT website.

Regarding revision policy implementation, Cyprus is adherent to the amended Harmonised European Revision Policy agreed by the CMFB in June 2017

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.

Cyprus performed a major revision for National Accounts data in 2019. In the Report on Quality submitted to Eurostat, in September 2019, detailed information for this benchmark revision was provided. A short explanatory note is published on CYSTAT website (see section 10.6)

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.

The main data sources used in Cyprus for the compilation of the national accounts aggregates are listed below.

Statistical surveys:

• Agricultural Production Survey (Cereals, Vineyards and Fruits)
• Farm Structure Survey (Census of Agriculture 2010)
• Industrial Production Survey (includes: Mining and quarrying, Manufacturing, Electricity, Water Supply and Materials Recovery)
• Construction Survey
• Wholesale and Retail Trade Statistics (includes: Sales and Repairs of Vehicles, Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade)
• Services Survey
• Transport Survey
• Financial Services Survey
• Structural statistics for all the branches of economic activities, accounting statistics for government organizations and enterprises
• Labour Force Survey
• Employment Survey
• Labour Cost Survey
• Household Budget Survey
• Intra – EU trade statistics and Extra – EU trade statistics data
• Survey on Motor Vehicles prices
• Survey on Hotel and Hotel Apartment prices
• Building Permits and Housing Survey
• Building Permits and Housing Survey (public sector)
• Services Survey – Balance of Payments
• Survey on Education – Balance of Payments
• Scientific research and experimental development (R & D) survey

 Administrative data:

• Forestry Department data
• Fisheries Department data
• Quarterly Profit and Loss Survey for Banks
• Treasury of the Republic
• Social Security Funds Records
• Insurance Companies Control Service
• Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commision
• Registrar of Occupational Retirement Benefit Funds

Additional statistical surveys (contucted by the Central Bank of Cyprus), used for the transition of GDP to GNI:

• Survey on External Financial Statistics
• Securities Holding Statistics reports
• Investment Funds Survey

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 in Cyprus usually receive/collect information according to the compilation schedule of annual and quarterly estimates (see Revision Policy 17.1).

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.

 The National Accounts and GFS Division of CYSTAT does not conduct any survey itself, but collects the results of the surveys conducted by other divisions of CYSTAT. Furthermore, it assembles data from administrative sources from other government and non-government organisations (for more details see section 18.1).  

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, Cyprus applies the validation rules as set by Eurostat through an IT tool (National Accounts Management System) and provides metadata with respect to major revisions.

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.

Key approaches and techniques for the compilation of national accounts in Cyprus can be summarised as follows:

The leading approach to compile GDP in Cyprus is the production approach. Consistency with the expenditure and income approaches is obtained via reconciliation/balancing process. Notably, changes in inventories or gross operating surplus and mixed income, respectively, are derived as residuals. 

Annual Sector accounts are compiled every September and are fully consistent with the National accounts datasets.

For related information see also sections 10.6. and 17.1.

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 program, 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.

For Cyprus quarterly national accounts, the estimation of seasonally adjusted series generally includes calendar adjustments that are applied only on monthly data (exceptions income and expenditure aggregates) and  these series are benchmarked to annual data. Due to the use of indirect seasonal adjustment technique, seasonally and calendar adjusted series are additive. The applied seasonal adjustment model is TRAMO-SEATS. The model is usually updated once year using DEMETRA PLUS software.

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