Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia

National Accounts in Latvia are produced by the Macroeconomic Statistics Department. There are four sections in the department:

• Annual National Accounts Section is responsible for annual main aggregates, annual non-financial sector accounts, regional accounts, supply and use, input-output tables
• Quarterly National Accounts Section is responsible for quarterly main aggregates and quarterly non-financial sector accounts
• Government Finance Section is responsible for the preparation of EDP notification, estimation of the general government non-financial and financial accounts and government debt
• Foreign Trade Statistics, Methodology, Analysis and Dissemination Section is responsible for statistics on foreign trade of goods

Latvijas Banka is responsible for the compilation of Balance of Payments statistics.

Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia

1, Lāčplēša Street

Riga, LV-1301

LATVIA

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

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

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

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

At national level in Eurobase, 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 and use and input-output tables

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

- regional breakdowns of main national accounts variables and household accounts

- industry breakdowns of main national accounts variables

- industry by asset breakdowns (stocks and transactions)

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

- pension entitlements in social insurance

At the moment there is a less extended dataset published in the national database.

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

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

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

A full overview of classifications is available in:

- ESA 2010 Chapter 23 Classifications

- Eurostat's RAMON classification database

Latvia uses all classifications mentioned above. An exception is General government sector for which more detailed breakdown of Institutional Sector Classification is used (only in Latvian):

https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/classification/30

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

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

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

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

At the national database of Latvia quarterly output, intermediate consumption and value-added are published at NACE Rev.2 A*15 (A, BDE, C, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, MNS, O, P, Q, R). 

Quarterly sector accounts are published for S.1, S.13 and S.2 only.

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.

The Latvian data basically apply all concepts and definitions of ESA 2010. 

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.

Currently, Latvia is using legal units as a proxy for institutional units.

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

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

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

National accounts data are usually compiled for years and quarters.

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

The usual length for the Latvian National Accounts time series starts at 1995. For information about the current derogations please see the following link: the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1891 of 30 November 2018.

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.

Latvia currently uses 2010 as the reference year for the compilation of chain-linked volumes (for annual and quarterly national accounts). The method to compile 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.

There are differences in Latvian national accounts time series for the years 1995-2013 published in Eurobase in national currency and euros. This is due to the different Euro exchange rate used. As per the agreement with Eurostat, all transmissions after the official date of the changeover to the Euro (for Latvia January 1, 2014) was reported in "Euro-fixed" terms – dividing the whole time series in old national currency by the fixed conversion rate to the Euro. The Euro-fixed series becomes the "National Currency" for all future transmissions of data relating to the period before the changeover to the Euro. The series in "Euro-fixed" had the same growth rates as the one expressed in old national currency. Eurostat applied the floating Euro exchange rates to historic series to calculate "Euro-variable" based data. Both series coincide for years after accession to the euro area but differ for earlier years due to market exchange rate movements.

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.

All statistics collected and published by the CSB of Latvia are governed by Statistics Law, which entered into force on 1st of January 2016. The Cabinet Regulation No. 732 By-Laws of the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia issued on 27 November 2018 defines general organisational structure, functions, tasks and rights of the CSB.

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.

The CSB of Latvia is a leading statistical institution implementing functional subordination over other statistical institutions in the field of production of official statistics, providing methodological guidelines, overseeing that the production process of official statistics complies with the provisions of the respective legal acts, as well as by issuing orders that are required to produce official statistics.

Mutual agreements on exchange of statistical information are signed between the CSB of Latvia and other statistical data producing agencies, like Central Bank, Financial and Capital Market Commission, Ministry of Agriculture, etc. The CSB has signed also bilateral agreements with the state bodies, which maintain the most important administrative registers and information systems, like Tax Register, Population Register, etc. These agreements are updated on regular basis.

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).

Statistics Law Sections 17 and 19 provides that the CSB of Latvia cannot publish, or otherwise make available to any individual or organization, statistics that would enable the identification of data of any individual person or entity.

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.

Currently, confidentiality is detected only for selected time-series of Regional Accounts.

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.

CSB of Latvia provides the publication calendar on its website (https://www.csb.gov.lv/en). The release calendar usually covers full calendar year and all planned national accounts news releases are included.

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

Link to the national release calendar: https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistics/calendar

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.

National accounts data are published on the website of CSB of Latvia and are available for all users:

https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistics/calendar?keyword=&product_type%5Bstatistics_table%5D=statistics_table

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.

The frequency of dissemination and revision of data are described in the revision policy of CSB of Latvia, which is available on the website: https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/documents/official-statistics-system/quality-framework/documents

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

The news releases are published on CSB of Latvia website following data release calendar. Release calendar does not cover AdHoc press releases, which are also possible and are available on the website only.

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.

Annually a section on national accounts is included in the statistical yearbook, latest addition (in parallel languages – Latvian and English) available at www.csb.gov.lv/gadagramata_2017; as well as its short version “Latvia. Statistics in Brief.’ 2018 edition available at https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistics/statistics-by-theme/economy/gdp/search-in-theme/298-latvia-statistics-brief-2018

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.

Link to online database: https://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistics/search

The database is operated using the search engine by typing a keyword or selecting some themes.

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.

Information on national accounts is also posted in social media – in both CSB’s accounts in Twitter @CSB_Latvia (in English) and @CSP_Latvija (in Latvian) as well as in Facebook (@CSPlatvija).

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.

CSB of Latvia is using the EU level documentation on methodology. 

The country-specific inventories are GNI inventory (of which Chapter 1 is available for the general public:  GNI Inventory and EDP inventory.

The link to the whole list of standardised national quality reports (available in Latvian only):

http://ads.csb.gov.lv/PublicApsekojums/Saraksts.rails?clean=

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

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

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

The CSB prepares Quality Reports on selected statistical domains (including National Accounts) in accordance with the EU requirements. Quality Reports provide internal and external data users with detailed information on the quality of the data compiled and describe processing stages of statistical products. 

Validation, output and consistency checks are performed regularly. 

Eurostat provides methodological validation of GNI data and EDP data. If the data are not methodologically correct Eurostat puts action points and gives reservations on data. 

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

Validation, output and consistency checks are performed regularly. The CSB has developed and introduced Project Documentation System where all statistical products (surveys and calculations) are described by production processes thereof. These national standardized quality reports are produced in Latvian. 

Of which concerning national accounts:

GDP Production side:

• Quarterly  
• Annual

GDP Expenditure side:

• Quarterly 
• Annual

GDP Income side:

• Quarterly 
• Annual

Non-financial sector accounts:

• Quarterly 
• Annual

Government finance statistics:http://ads.csb.gov.lv/Apsekojums/Sakums.rails?id=c3463e90-0c2a-443d-ae4a-a8180108c960&listPage=1

 These reports are published up to the year 2016, the years 2017 and 2018 are for internal use only.

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

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

The use of MS national accounts by international institutions should also be added here. International institutions can be considered as “clients” of NSI.

In Latvia, The user needs and the potentiality to produce data are discussed with the users in compiling process Official statistics programme (in Latvian only) annually.

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

At the CSB of Latvia, the specific survey to assess user satisfaction with national accounts data has not been carried out. 

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.

In 2017, the overall completeness rate of Latvian National Accounts data as required by ESA 2010 Transmission Programme was high. Completeness was improved for the National Accounts Main Aggregates tables.

Latvia has some temporary derogations to the data transmission requirements that have been granted to the Member States, up to 2020, by the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1891 of 30 November 2018 thus allowing national data to deviate temporarily from the ESA 2010 transmission requirements.

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.

Please see chapter 11.2 for information on the national quality reports for national accounts data.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

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

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

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

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

In 2017, overall punctuality of Latvian National Accounts data was high with the exception of annual Financial Accounts (FA) tables which were transmitted after the legal deadline and had to be retransmitted until subsequent validation. 

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

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

 There are no data breaks in time series of Latvian national accounts data.

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

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

See section 15.3 (Coherence - cross domain).

Latvijas Banka has started the revision of financial accounts data from 2004 onwards. It is planned to finish it in 2019.  As Latvijas Banka since 2018 is responsible also for the compilation of annual financial accounts the quarterly and annual data consistency will be insured in the process of this data revision.

Not available.

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

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

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

Latvia in principle adheres to the amended harmonised European revision policy agreed by the CMFB in June 2017. Please see the link below regarding the revision policy:

https://www.csb.gov.lv/sites/default/files/dokumenti/revision_policy_ENG.pdf

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.

The information on the main reasons of revisions is published at CSB of Latvia website only if benchmark or major revisions are carried out.

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

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

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

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

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

Main data sources used for compiling GNI data of Latvia are described in GNI Inventory. The data sources used for quarterly GDP is described in national quality reports only in Latvian (see section 11.2).

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

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

National accounts departments typically receive/collect information in relation to their compilation schedule, i.e. for their annual or quarterly estimates. 

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.

Data collection in Latvia is usually organised via:

 (i) an internal Work Plan, which is renewed on annual basis and determines cooperation between different statistic departments on data sharing;

 (ii) a signed agreement and technical protocol for cooperation with other institutions on what, when, how, etc. the data would be delivered (see point 6.2);

(iii) participation of Macroeconomic Statistics Department in the development of the questionnaires of statistical surveys of other departments.

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

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

The confrontation of data from different sources is an integral part of the national accounts compilation. Source data used in national accounts undergo a sequence of checks within NSIs. For the validation of national accounts data, Latvia applies validation rules and provides metadata to support Eurostat validation process with respect to revisions and outliers. 

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 Latvia can be summarised as follows:

Production approach is the main approach used to estimate GDP in Latvia. In income approach operating surplus and income are computed only as balancing items. The consistency between Expenditure approach and Production approach is obtained by adjusting the changes in inventory.

National accounts datasets are generally consistent.

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

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

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

For quarterly national accounts of Latvia (except in previous year prices) the estimation of seasonally adjusted series generally includes calendar adjustments. Due to the use of direct seasonal adjustment technique, seasonally (and calendar) adjusted series are not additive. The applied seasonal adjustment method is TRAMO-SEATS. Outlier detection and replacement are done using an additive, transitory change, level shift outliers and ramps.  The model is updated once a year with the publication of estimates for quarterly accounts benchmark to annual accounts using JDemetra+ 2.2.0.

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