Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Unit C2 - National Accounts - production The Macroeconomic Statistics Directorate of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (hereinafter the CBS) is responsible for compiling annual and quarterly main aggregates, supply, use and input-output tables, regional accounts and accrued-to-data pension entitlements in social insurance, non-financial sector accounts and gross national income, non-financial assets, government accounts and EDP, agriculture and forestry accounts and price statistics. The Directorate consists of six organizational departments: National Accounts Aggregates Department, Non-financial Sector Accounts Department, Government Accounts and Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) Department, Input-Output Tables Department, Price Statistics and European Comparison Programme Department and Economic Accounts in Agriculture and Forestry Department. The Croatian National Bank is responsible for financial accounts and balance of payments.
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Ilica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Republic of Croatia
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
31 January 2022
2.2. Metadata last posted
31 January 2022
2.3. Metadata last update
31 January 2022
3.1. Data description
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 institutional sectors, industries, products, regions, etc.). National accounts provide data for several domains: annual and quarterly national accounts (main aggregates), sector accounts, financial accounts, supply, use and input-output tables, regional accounts, government finance statistics and pension entitlements..
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, data for Croatia 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
annual non-financial balance sheets
supply, 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
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 for economic activities, CPA for products by economic activities, COFOG for the functions of government, COICOP 2018 for individual consumption by purpose, NUTS for regional breakdowns.
A full overview of classifications is available in:
The Macroeconomic Statistics Directorate of Croatian Bureau of Statistics uses following classifications: NACE rev. 2, CPA 2014, NUTS 2013, COICOP and COFOG. The CBS uses some national classifications for the collection, calculation, presentation and dissemination of data which are harmonised with the international classification. In accordance with the revised version NACE Rev. 2.1 and national needs, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics has prepared a new classification version NKD 2025. It was adopted by the Decision on the National Classification of Activities, 2025 version - NKD 2025 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Croatia, No. 47/24), which will replace NKD 2007. The compliance of the new classification version NKD 2025 with NACE Rev. 2.1 has already been verified and approved by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. From January 1, 2025, the new version of the NKD, i.e. the National Classification of Activities 2025, will begin to apply ꟷ NKD 2025. and is available on the following link: Nacionalna klasifikacija djelatnosti 2025. ꟷ NKD 2025.
KLASUS is a tool designed for use by all users of classifications, which enables browsing and searching of classifications by name and code, provides a presentation of individual elements of classifications, their headings, explanations or indices, if any, as well as correspondence tables between various versions of classifications. It also offers a chance to download classifications in multiple formats with all their levels and elements.
3.3. Coverage - sector
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: (S.11) non-financial corporations; (S.12) financial corporations; (S.13) general government; (S.14) households; (S.15) 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.
For example, regional and quarterly GDP is published at the NACE A10 level, while annual GDP is published at the same level with NACE letter C on division level. However, detailed information about coverage sector and activity breakdown may be found in the QNA Inventory.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
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.
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.
The input-output framework, through the supply, use tables, sets out in more detail the production process (cost structure and income generated) and the flows of goods and services (output, imports, exports, final consumption, intermediate consumption and capital formation by product group). In input-output tables, these variables are broken down either by industry (NACE Rev. 2) or product (CPA 2.1).
ESA 2010 also encompasses concepts of population and employment. Such concepts are relevant for the sector accounts and the detailed breakdown of main GDP aggregates by industry.
The Macroeconomic Statistics Directorate follows ESA 2010 methodological guidelines as well as working papers and manuals published by Eurostat. Certain deviation from the ESA 2010 methodology are still present. For the purpose of consistent application of methodologies , CBS conducts data revisions. In recent years, special attention is also given to the problem of consistency of data through different national accounts domain.
3.5. Statistical unit
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.
The Croatian annual GDP has been compiled on the institutional unit level, using mainly administrative data sources. The regional accounts is based on LKAU. Sector accounts are compiled on the institutional unit level.
3.6. Statistical population
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.
3.7. Reference area
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.
The regional accounts are compiled by counties (20 of them plus City of Zagreb) which are aggregated to the NUTS 2 level (Pannonian Croatia, Adriatic Croatia, City of Zagreb and Northern Croatia). See the publication on the following link: National classification statistical regions 2021 (HR_NUTS 2021)
3.8. Coverage - Time
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.
The usual length for the Croatian time series concerning national accounts span from 1995 e.g. annual and quarterly GDP and from 2000 regional GDP.
Sector accounts are compiled for the years from 1995.
3.9. Base period
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 Regulation (EU) 2023/734. 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.
Croatia currently uses 2021 as reference year for the compilation of chain-linked volumes for annual and quarterly national accounts. The quarterly data are available at current prices, constant prices of the previous year and constant prices of a reference year (i.e. 2021). Real growth rates are calculated by using basic chain-linked indices, where the referent year (i.e. 2021) is the base year. Real growth rates are calculated from the original as well as seasonally adjusted data series.
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.
Until 2022 inclusive the national currency was Croatian kuna (HRK) and the fixed exchange rate of 1 EUR= 7,53450 HRK to convert historical data to euro is used.
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics applies the same methods as Eurostat.
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).
The Croatian data takes 2021 as reference year for annual and quarterly accounts. 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.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
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. Both Annex A and B are amended and published in the Official Journal of the European Union NO REGULATION (EU) 2023/734 (Amendment ESA 2010)
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 and amendment );
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 and amendment).
Temporary derogations to the data transmission requirements have been granted to Member States, up to 2027 by the Commission Implementing Decision 2024/1251/EU of 25 April 2024 thus allowing national data to deviate temporarily from the ESA 2010 transmission requirements.
Some other legal acts with relevance for national accounts concern:
Legal act on the excessive deficit procedure
Several separate acts, often regarding classifications such as: NACE Rev.2, CPA 2014, COFOG, COICOP 2018, 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 ESA 2010 Regulation stipulates that the quality of national and regional accounts data sent to Eurostat are to be assessed according to the quality criteria set out by the Regulation on European statistics (Regulation (EC) No 223/2009). The modalities, structure and assessment indicators of the quality assessment process are set out in a Commission implementing act (Regulation (EU) 2016/2304).
National accounts are compiled and disseminated following the Official Statistics Act. The CBS has agreements with external data providers and institutions such as Memorandum of Understanding with Croatian National Bank and Ministry of finanace for the purpose of the regulation of the responsibility for EDP reporting. CBS has also agreement of data exchange with Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency, Tax Administration and Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries.
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.
Croatian macroeconomic datasets are used both nationally and internationally by different organisations, such as policy makers, analysts, scientific community and students. The data (final results) are regularly reported to Eurostat throughout ESA 2010 Transmission Programme and to IMF following the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS).
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
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).
Pursuant to the Official Statistics Act in Croatia, confidentiality implies the protection of confidential data related to individual statistical unit, which are collected directly for statistical purposes or indirectly from administrative or other sources, implying the prohibition of use of collected statistical data for non-statistical purposes and their unlawful disclosure. Also, the CBS allow scientists and scientific organisations that conduct statistical analyses for scientific purposes access to confidential data that provide only an indirect identification of the statistical units (Article 65 of the Act).
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
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.
The CBS reports some data as confidential data not for publishing due to singularity of the units withing certain group/class of economic activities (e.g. extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas, passenger air transport, postal and courier activities). Eurostat may internally use the data transmitted.
8.1. Release calendar
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.
The release calendar covers a full calendar year and includes all scheduled national accounts news releases.
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.
All statistical data published by the CBS are available on the website, for all users, where publications by statistical subject matter areas have been published (both with first releases and accompanied databases via link provided). The publications are published according to the release calendar scheduled at 11 a.m. precisely (i.e. standard daily time set for the release), both in electronic format and hard copy.
All data are published freely accessible on the regular publications and the release time. Also, interested parties for statistical data are media and for that reason the CBS has a special webspace named Press.
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. 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.
The CBS publishes national accounts data once per year while quarterly national accounts are published four time per year, all according to the release calendar. Due to methodological issues and revision policy, the data may be published (disseminated) again or at the later stage with a certain time shift (i.e. delay) via extraordinary release.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The most important results of national accounts are issued in news releases. The first releases are available on the website and the exact dates are pre-announced in release calendars (see section 8.1 above) .
The CBS always publishes news releases when new compilations are done.
10.2. Dissemination format - 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.
In order to enable easy access to national accounts data, all validated national accounts data are available to users by publishing them in an online database.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
The CBS uses following social media (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn) for posting its information related to the official statistics.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
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 CBS national accounts' documentation on sources and methods is available for:
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.
For National Accounts there is a legal obligation for preparing Quality Reports on regular basis as well as quality studies and regular reports on data revisions. HR National Accounts provides Quality Report for different domain of national accounts compilation in which there is detail explanation relating to the relevance of the statistical concepts, accuracy of estimates, coherence, comparability of statistical data and timeliness. HR National Accounts provides also Inventories for different national accounts domain (GNI, EDP, PPP, GDP). On our official web site there is QNA Inventory and EDP Inventory. All others are in the Eurostat database.
An implementation of the total quality management model in the CBS can be found here: total quality management .
11.1. Quality assurance
The ESA 2010 Regulation stipulates that the quality of national and regional accounts data sent to Eurostat are to be assessed according to the quality criteria set out by the Regulation on European statistics (Regulation (EC) No 223/2009). The modalities, structure and assessment indicators of the quality assessment process are set out in a Commission implementing act (Regulation (EU) 2016/2304).
Each year, in accordance with Article 4(2) of the ESA 2010 Regulation, Member States report on the quality of national and regional accounts data sent to Eurostat. Based on their national quality reports, Eurostat prepares an overall assessment in accordance with Article 4(4).
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).
Validation of data sources and output data (results) is an integral part of the calculation. The national accountants work very closely with the survey statisticians to obtain good quality survey estimates. Cross checks are made by comparing a national accounts variables with that of another variable that may be expected to be closely correlated with it. External checks are made from Eurostat side after every data transmission and through GNI and EDP monitoring. If the data are not methodologically correct, Eurostat puts action points and gives reservations on data.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
An implementation of the total quality management model in the CBS can be found here: quality management model.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
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.
Primary users of the national accounts data in Croatia are Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, financial institutions, Croatian National Bank, Croatian Chamber of Commerce, scientific and academic institutions which conduct macroeconomic research as primary activity, newspapers specialised in the field of macroeconomics.
International organisation such as IMF and OECD, scientific and academic institutions which conduct macroeconomic research.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Views and opinions of users of national accounts statistics can be collected and analyzed as one of the tools to 'measure' the relevance of national accounts data.
Users ask questions and provide suggestions via following mail contacts: for information and user's requests stat.info@dzs.hr and for journalist requests press@dzs.hr
Also, in 2024 Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) conducted the user satisfaction survey The aim of the research was to determine users' satisfaction with the quality of data and services, as well as their needs.
12.3. Completeness
In most countries national accounts cover the domains national accounts main aggregates, government accounts, sector accounts regional accounts and supply, use and input-output 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 26 tables across all national accounts domains which defines the minimum national accounts data set that must be available in all Member States of the EU.
In 2024 the overall completeness of the Croatian National Accounts data for the data series since 1995 as required by ESA2010 Transmission Programme continued to improve and was very high.
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, use and input-output tables) after the end of the reference year.
Croatia delivers most of the national accounts data to Eurostat according to the legal required timeliness.
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 2024, overall punctuality of Croatian National Accounts data was generally good.
Delays in Croatian transmissions might occur due to data resource constraints.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
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 regional accounts are compiled by counties (20 of them plus City of Zagreb) which are aggregated to the NUTS 2 level (Pannonian Croatia, Adriatic Croatia, City of Zagreb and Northern Croatia).
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.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
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, use and input-output 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 is in principle fully coherent with the corresponding national accounts variables.
For NAMA there were no inconsistencies between annual and quarterly data. In 2024 complete and comparable time series with no breaks as required by the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme were transmitted for NFSA and Regional Accounts.
15.4. Coherence - internal
See section 15.3 (Coherence - cross domain).
For NAMA there were no inconsistencies between tables, both for annual and for quarterly data as well as between totals and the sum of components.
Regarding FA data, the financial corporation sector (S.12) was not fully consolidated in the consolidated tables; it was the sum of the consolidated S.12 subsectors. Moreover, vertical discrepancies between Financial and Non-Financial Sector Accounts are significant. Vertical discrepancies cannot be solved before the horizontal discrepancies. For example, after the GDP was revised for period from 2010 vertical discrepancies was reduced automatically on some sectors.
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
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 Harmonised European Revision Policy for Macroeconomic Statistics (HERP) dealing with routine revisions.
The CBS published a national revision policy for the domain of National Accounts in April 2020named "Revision policy for the domain of National Accounts and Government finance statistics /Excessive deficit procedure statistic”. The CBS and Eurostat had bilateral consultation in the process of preparing the Revision policy document. The revision policy for national accounts is published on the website of CBS. The last benchmark revision of Croatia's annual GDP and related aggregates was in October 2024 and affected the full time-series. The impact of last benchmark statistical revision on the GDP level in nominal terms ranges from-1.1% to 2.1% throughout the period from 1995 to 2023. The average number of years revised is about 20 years.
17.2. Data revision - practice
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.
According to the revision policy of national accounts and government finance statistics /excessive deficit procedure statistics, if significant changes occur in the calculation of data within the April notification, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics is obliged to ensure consistency between data and publish the revised GDP data, thus also ensuring consistency in quarterly sector accounts. Revised national accounts data are published within regular publication of Croatian national accounts. The information concerning the revision policy for national accounts domains for Croatia is published within the First Release. More detailed information of revisions can be found within the methodological explanation in First Release/Statistics in line/Notes on methodology . In 2014, 2019 and 2024 CBS conducted benchmark revisions
In 2014 benchmark revision was due to the obligation that all EU countries had to replace the existing ESA 95 methodological framework with the new ESA 2010 methodology. Revision is explained in the First Release in Notes on methodology:
In 2017, CBS carried out revision for the years 2010-2016. Revision is explained in the FirstRelease.
In 2018, CBS carried out revision that includes methodological improvements in the calculation of subsidies. Revision is explained in the First Release.
In the period from 2020-2023 CBS also carried out revisons due to the work on GNI transaction-specific reservations and due to the methodological improvements. Revision of annual GDP for that period is explained in the First Releases.
In 2024. CBS carried out benchmark revision for the period 1995-2023. Revision is explained in the First Release/Statistics in line/Notes on methodology.
After every revision of annual data, revision of quarterly GDP, regional GDP, sector accounts and supply, use and input-output tables was conducted.
18.1. Source data
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.
Overall, it is difficult to be exhaustive in the listing of all data sources. The main data sources are listed and described in inventories.
The estimation of national accounts data is carried out by using administrative data sources, statistical surveys and other data sources. Data sources for GDP and GNI are explained in GNI Inventory which was sent to Eurostat, but not publicly available.
Sources data for Excessive deficit procedure EDP is available publicly in inventories on the CBS website, for Quarterly national accounts in QNA and for the Gross domestic product and Gross national income GDP/GNI in Chapter 1.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
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). The HBS survey was conducted regularly every year from1998-2011, and then periodically, (2014, 2017, 2019 and 2022). Availability of administrative data varies from source to source (monthly, quarterly or yearly). 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. Macroeconomic Statistics Directorate typically receive/collect information in relation to their compilation schedule, i.e., for their annual or quarterly estimates. Therefore, data sources used for annual national accounts and quarterly national accounts differ to some extent.
Macroeconomic Statistics Directorate typically do not collect data themselves but receive them from other departments or institutions.
Reuse of other statistics from CBS, Croatian National Bank (CNB), Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (CFFSA) or other institutions
Reuse of administrative data: Financial Agency (FINA), Tax Administration database, Ministry of Finance database ( central and local government, social security funds and non-profit institutions)
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.
Data input by National Statistical Institutes is regularly checked by Eurostat for accuracy (accounting consistency, time-consistency between quarterly and annual accounts, consistency over time), completeness (coverage of reference periods and variables) and coherence with related national accounts data sets (GDP main aggregates, Government finance statistics and quarterly Balance of Payments). Cross domain checks against financial accounts are performed on an ad-hoc basis. Any lack of quality in this respect is regularly followed up with national authorities. For the validation of national accounts data, CBS provides to Eurostat metadata to support the validation process with respect to revisions and outliers.
18.5. Data compilation
Key approaches and techniques for the compilation of national accounts in Croatia can be summarised as follows:
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. Key approaches and techniques for the compilation of national accounts in Croatia can be summarized as follows: GDP is calculated according to three main approaches, i.e., production, expenditure and income approach. The production approach is prepared as an independent estimate. It is considered to be the leading approach for compiling GDP because it uses the most reliable and exhaustive data sources. Apart from the production approach, the expenditure approach of the GDP compilation is the second most important approach in Croatia. The income approach is not an independent estimate of GDP in the national accounts. Income components are estimated either directly or as a residual item. Consistency is obtained through reconciliation/balancing process. Croatia still does not integrate SUT (supply, use) balancing into the regular GDP compilation process. As the production approach, due to more reliable and exhaustive data sources, is taken as a benchmark, the discrepancy on the expenditure side is calculated as a residual. The difference between the two methods is called a “statistical discrepancy” and is classified under the item changes in inventories. The statistical discrepancy appears only on the expenditure side, and it comes from the balancing process between production and expenditure sides in current prices. The statistical discrepancy is not published separately, but together with changes in inventories. The similar approach is used for the compilation of quarterly national accounts. Sector accounts are compiled after main aggregates. General government accounts are calculated independently from rest of the accounts in order to fulfill all the requests for the notification of public budget deficits and public debt to the European Union Commission. These results are then integrated in national accounts.
18.6. Adjustment
Seasonal adjustment is carried out with X-13 ARIMA, where each series is individually modelled according to Eurostat recommendations.
Direct approach without balancing is used for seasonal adjustment, where each series is adjusted separately with a series-specific optimal model.
Calendar adjustments are also made (trading/working days, leap year, Easter effect, etc.) usingX-13 with national calendar.
No comment.
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 institutional sectors, industries, products, regions, etc.). National accounts provide data for several domains: annual and quarterly national accounts (main aggregates), sector accounts, financial accounts, supply, use and input-output tables, regional accounts, government finance statistics and pension entitlements..
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, data for Croatia 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
annual non-financial balance sheets
supply, 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
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.
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.
The input-output framework, through the supply, use tables, sets out in more detail the production process (cost structure and income generated) and the flows of goods and services (output, imports, exports, final consumption, intermediate consumption and capital formation by product group). In input-output tables, these variables are broken down either by industry (NACE Rev. 2) or product (CPA 2.1).
ESA 2010 also encompasses concepts of population and employment. Such concepts are relevant for the sector accounts and the detailed breakdown of main GDP aggregates by industry.
The Macroeconomic Statistics Directorate follows ESA 2010 methodological guidelines as well as working papers and manuals published by Eurostat. Certain deviation from the ESA 2010 methodology are still present. For the purpose of consistent application of methodologies , CBS conducts data revisions. In recent years, special attention is also given to the problem of consistency of data through different national accounts domain.
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.
The Croatian annual GDP has been compiled on the institutional unit level, using mainly administrative data sources. The regional accounts is based on LKAU. Sector accounts are compiled on the institutional unit level.
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.
The regional accounts are compiled by counties (20 of them plus City of Zagreb) which are aggregated to the NUTS 2 level (Pannonian Croatia, Adriatic Croatia, City of Zagreb and Northern Croatia). See the publication on the following link: National classification statistical regions 2021 (HR_NUTS 2021)
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).
The Croatian data takes 2021 as reference year for annual and quarterly accounts. 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.
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.
Until 2022 inclusive the national currency was Croatian kuna (HRK) and the fixed exchange rate of 1 EUR= 7,53450 HRK to convert historical data to euro is used.
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics applies the same methods as Eurostat.
Key approaches and techniques for the compilation of national accounts in Croatia can be summarised as follows:
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. Key approaches and techniques for the compilation of national accounts in Croatia can be summarized as follows: GDP is calculated according to three main approaches, i.e., production, expenditure and income approach. The production approach is prepared as an independent estimate. It is considered to be the leading approach for compiling GDP because it uses the most reliable and exhaustive data sources. Apart from the production approach, the expenditure approach of the GDP compilation is the second most important approach in Croatia. The income approach is not an independent estimate of GDP in the national accounts. Income components are estimated either directly or as a residual item. Consistency is obtained through reconciliation/balancing process. Croatia still does not integrate SUT (supply, use) balancing into the regular GDP compilation process. As the production approach, due to more reliable and exhaustive data sources, is taken as a benchmark, the discrepancy on the expenditure side is calculated as a residual. The difference between the two methods is called a “statistical discrepancy” and is classified under the item changes in inventories. The statistical discrepancy appears only on the expenditure side, and it comes from the balancing process between production and expenditure sides in current prices. The statistical discrepancy is not published separately, but together with changes in inventories. The similar approach is used for the compilation of quarterly national accounts. Sector accounts are compiled after main aggregates. General government accounts are calculated independently from rest of the accounts in order to fulfill all the requests for the notification of public budget deficits and public debt to the European Union Commission. These results are then integrated in 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.
Overall, it is difficult to be exhaustive in the listing of all data sources. The main data sources are listed and described in inventories.
The estimation of national accounts data is carried out by using administrative data sources, statistical surveys and other data sources. Data sources for GDP and GNI are explained in GNI Inventory which was sent to Eurostat, but not publicly available.
Sources data for Excessive deficit procedure EDP is available publicly in inventories on the CBS website, for Quarterly national accounts in QNA and for the Gross domestic product and Gross national income GDP/GNI in Chapter 1.
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. 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.
The CBS publishes national accounts data once per year while quarterly national accounts are published four time per year, all according to the release calendar. Due to methodological issues and revision policy, the data may be published (disseminated) again or at the later stage with a certain time shift (i.e. delay) via extraordinary release.
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, use and input-output tables) after the end of the reference year.
Croatia delivers most of the national accounts data to Eurostat according to the legal required timeliness.
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 regional accounts are compiled by counties (20 of them plus City of Zagreb) which are aggregated to the NUTS 2 level (Pannonian Croatia, Adriatic Croatia, City of Zagreb and Northern Croatia).
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.
