Statistical office of Montenegro

National accounts of Montenegro existed in dedicated Sector of macroeconomic statistics, national accounts and prices. 

IV proleterske no.2, Podgorica, 81000, Montenegro

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

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

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

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

At national level, data are commonly available for:

- annual and quarterly national accounts: 'main aggregates'

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: KD2010 classification of activities which is in line with 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 NUTS 2013 for regional breakdowns.

A full overview of classifications is available in:

- ESA 2010 Chapter 23 Classifications

- Eurostat's RAMON classification database

- Monstat's  https://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=104&pageid=104 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

According to the NUTS classification Montenegro is one region on all 3 NUTS levels.

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.

National accounts annual data in Montenegro exists from 2000 with breaks in time series and are available on MONSTATs website. Up to 2006 data are in line with ESA 95 and NACE Rev 1.1 and are available in the form of Press releases.

National accounts data from 2006 onwards are in line with ESA 2010.

Annual and quarterly national accounts data are available from 2006. 

GDP at constant prices uses the prices of the previous year so that the base year is always the previous year. 

Chain linked data are experimentally produced for the reference 2010, production and expenditure approach, within the support of IPA project.

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.

Montenegro follows the rules described above.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some other legal acts with relevance for national accounts concern:

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

- Legal act on the excessive deficit procedure

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

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

The Law on Official Statistics and Official Statistical System (Official Gazette of Montenegro No 18/12: https://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=4&pageid=4 ) defines provisions for collection, processing, and dissemination of data. The Law provides to the Statistical Office clear and wide legal powers to collect and access the data necessary for the implementation of Programme and Annual Plan. The Law gives a priority to the use of administrative data and right of access to individual data that are a result of survey of other official statistical producers. As an annex to legal provisions, Statistical Office has signed several memoranda on cooperation with administrative data providers. 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 European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme is covered in Annex B of the Council Regulation (EU) No 549/2013).  Montenegro use Statistical requirements compendium. It mentions all legal acts and other basis by modules.

Data are shared with other institutions in accordance with specific agreements:

• Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare
• Directorate of Tax and Customs system
• Central Bank of Montenegro 
• Trilateral agreement (MONSTAT, Ministry of Finance, and Central Bank of Montenegro)

International institutions:

• EUROSTAT
• UN organizations
• IMF
• World Bank

Articles 53-60 of the Law on Official Statistics and Official Statistical System (Official Gazette of Montenegro No 18/12 https://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=4&pageid=4) provide a framework for protection, use, and transmission of confidential data. MONSTAT has produced two comprehensive rulebooks that cover the procedures for individual data protection as well as keeping individual records. With purpose of the meeting legal framework on functioning of security system and statistical confidentiality there was adopted the Rulebook on Keeping Statistical Data by which Manner, Time, Technical Conditions and Organization of Statistical Data Storage to Prevent Their Destroying, Misappropriation, and Unauthorized Use is Regulated as well as the Rulebook on Contents and Manner of Keeping Records on Users of Individual Statistical Data by which contents and manner of keeping records on users of individual statistical data is regular. Pursuant to the Article 59, an access to the confidential data is limited to persons performing duties and tasks of official statistical producer and up to the stage the data are necessary for official statistical production. Persons that performs duties and tasks within official statistical producers must sign the statement on respecting the principle of confidentiality. Law on Official Statistics and Official Statistical System is aligned with the Regulation No 223/2009 and the Regulation (EU) 2015/759 from 29 April 2015 that also regulate confidentiality provisions. The Government of Montenegro adopted the Statement on Commitment of Confidence in Official Statistics (Commitment of Confidence).

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (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). The privacy of data providers (households, enterprises, administrations and other respondents), the confidentiality of the information they provide and its use only for statistical purposes are absolutely guaranteed. 

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.

In accordance with the Law on Official Statistics and Official Statistical System, Chapter XIII, confidentiality and protection of data necessary for official statistics, Articles from 54 to 61, is defined by the legislative procedure relating to the confidentiality of data. Data transmitted which are not for publishing are with notification letter. If  data are with a confidentiality flag, these data are not published.

The Law on Official Statistics and Official Statistical System (Official Gazette of Montenegro No 18/12) stipulates that official statistical producers prepare, update, and publish Statistical Release Calendar. It is published on the website of Statistical Office not later than 20 December for the next year, for all official statistical producers that includes date of releasing statistical data. Any change in date of releasing in the Calendar is published in advance in accordance with the Procedure on Unplanned Revisions.

The release calendar is available on http://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=12&pageid=12 

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.

General aim of official statistical producer is to meet the needs of users, and to make an access to statistical data to users in an understandable manner, simultaneously and under the same conditions. Statistical Office is obliged to produce and disseminate official statistics in objective, transparent and professional manner, so that all users are equally treated. All users of national accounts data have a free access. Data is published on the MONSTAT website, section National accounts- Gross domestic product and main agregates.

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.

Annual national accounts data for Montenegro are published at once a year, t+9 months. The transmission requirements for each dataset are defined in the ESA 2010 transmission programme. 

Quarterly national accounts data for Montenegro are published 76 days after reference quarter and once again in december as benchmarked quarters for reference year according to annual data.

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).

Release on GDP is available on web page of MONSTAT: http://monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=163&pageid=19  

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.

Statistical Office publishes the following regular publications:   
1. Monthly Statistical Review,  
2. Statistical Yearbook, 
3. Montenegro in Numbers, 
4. Annual Statistics of Transport, Storage and Connections,
5. Number and Structure of Business Entities.  
In addition to the above regular ones, Statistical Office publishes also additionally publications. Some of the most important additional publications are as it follows:  
1. Women and Men in Montenegro,  
2. Children in Montenegro,  
3. The most often used statistical data.
All publication published by Statistical Office are available at the following link: http://monstat.org/eng/publikacije.php

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.

An online database exist which can access the data. Link: http://monstat.org/eng/pxweb.php

There are data in Excel format on the website:

Annual data https://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=19&pageid=19

Quarterly data https://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=20&pageid=20

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.

Statistical office of Montenegro posted information via social media Twitter: twitter.com/monstat_me

Dissemination of data in the frame of enhanced General Data Dissemination Standard which is established by IMF (eGDDS), link: http://www.monstat.org/NSDP/National%20Summary%20Data%20Page%20(NSDP).htm

Some news and actuality are published on dedicated space for national accounts under tab Actuality http://monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=17&pageid=17

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.

Link: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-02-13-269

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).

Quality is assured by strict application of ESA 2010 concepts and by thorough validation of the data. Statistical Office has chosen the implementation of elements of TQM (Total Quality Management) model that foster development and improvement of functioning of: 

• Institution,  
• Official statistical result production and
• Individual.  

Within middle-term deadline, Statistical Office has chosen the TQM implementation through the following objectives: 

• Strong commitment to users and other interested parties, 
• Quality statistical processes and products, 
• Professional orientation of staff members, 
• Constant improvements, 
• Reduction of overburden of reporting units.

The document 'GNI Inventory' serves as a basis for assessing the quality of the results.

The Law on Official Statistics and Official Statistical System (Official Gazette of Montenegro No 18/12) defines the commitment to quality which ensures that official statistical producers in Montenegro work and cooperate in accordance with the international principles of statistical system quality. Development Strategy and Programme of Official Statistics for 2019-2023 is in force. define the objectives of development. One of objectives is quality management via monitoring the implementation of European Statistical Code of Practice. Pursuant to the ESS Quality Declaration, Article 338 of the Contract on EU Functioning, Regulation 759/2015 and Regulation 223/2009 as well as European Statistical Code of Practice, the following documents are adopted:

1. The Quality Management Strategy of the Statistical Office 

2. Guidebook to the Implementation of a Quality Strategy within the Statistical Office

3. "TQM Model Implementation Plan within the Statistical Office

On the official website of Statistical office of Montenegro http://monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=1421&pageid=1421 can be found following documentation regarding quality assessments:

• European Statistics Code of Practice
• Commitment on Confidence
• Quality Policy
• Quality Declaration
• The Quality Management Strategy
• A Guidebook to the Implementation of a Quality Strategy
• Quality reports
• User satisfaction report

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.

National Accounts data are key information for economic policy monitoring and decision making, forecasting, for administrative purposes and for information of the general public and for economic research. International users: 

• Eurostat,
• World Bank
• UN organizations
• International Monetary Fund

National users: 

• Ministries and other public administration bodies 
• Local government and other local government bodies 
• Central bank
• Non-governmental organizations
• Students
• Researchers
• Media

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.

The Statistical Office has adopted the Quality Management Strategy, the Guidebook to the Implementation of the Quality Management Strategy, as well as the Plan for the Implementation of the Quality Policy. In order to measure the degree to which fulfills obligations towards users and within the new quality policy, the Statistical Office conducted User satisfaction survey. Data collection was carried out through a web survey, in the period from 6 March 27 April, 2020.

The results of the survey are available on the Statistical Office website, link: http://monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=1502&pageid=1502

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.

Annual national accounts provide a basic view of the macroeconomic aggregates - Gross domestic product  by applying expenditure approach using international methodology ESA 2010 / SNA 2008. Data are transmitted acording to Data transmission Programme.

The compilation of national accounts is a complex task that involves many different data sources and therefore it is not possible to provide simple measures of accuracy estimate.

MONSTAT publishes all revision and explanations of the data when this occures.

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.

National accounts annual data are available t+9 months.

National accounts qurterly data are available t+76 days as preliminary, and t+12 months as final.

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).

Quarterly data are published in accordance with the Annual Plan of Statistical Survey and Statistical Release Calendar in the 76 days after end of the reference quarter.

Annual data are published in accordance with the Annual Plan of Statistical Survey and Statistical Release Calendar in the end of september of current year for previous year, respectively deadline for data transmission by Data transmission programme (t+9).

The data transmitted to Eurostat are in compliance with ESA 2010 transmission programme.

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 comparability is insured by the application of common definitions of ESA 2010 which enables the geographical comparability of data between Montenegro and other countries. In line with the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) and the Transmission Program of Data (ESA 2010 Transmission Program of Data) the Statistical Office submits to Eurostat data on quarterly and annually GDP at all three levels of the NUTS classification, the territory of Montenegro is considered as one statistical region.

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.

By using a common framework, the European System of Accounts  ESA 2010, data for Montenegro can be comparable over time, for annual time series 2006-2019.

From 2000 to 2005, the data are available by the ESA 95 methodology. Since 2006, data have been available according to the ESA 2010 methodology.

Data are available by NACE Rev 1.1 classification for the data series from 2000-2005. year, and according to NACE Rev. 2. from 2006.

For quarterly data, time series are comparable over time 2006-2019.

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.

Annual and quarterly data for all sub domains of national accounts should be coherent.

After publishing annual GDP data quarterly data are revised to be in line with annual data in order to be coherent.

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. 

Information concerning revision policy for national and regional accounts domains can be found http://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=1411&pageid=1411

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.

Data from the National Accounts are subject to revisions in case of changes in international methodologies or if new data sources become available.
National Accounts represent a wide range of data on different areas that are integrated into the National Accounts system so that a change in one area will have an impact elsewhere, and therefore the revision of one part of National Accounts can lead to a revision of the data of the entire system of 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.

The main data source for the calculation of GDP are financial statements of companies, banks, insurance companies, government sector, social security funds, local governments, entrepreneurs and data on the lump sum tax payers based on tax returns. All the above sources represent an administrative data sources.

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). 

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 department 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.

National accounts department typically do not collect data themselves but receive them from other departments or institutions. National Accounts combine data from many sources. Techniques for collecting data are different, the available sources of information, timeliness of published data and other factors.

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 original data are subject of a series of checks, relying on the principles of completeness and consistency.

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.

Data processing of national accounts is based on the verification of eligibility and consistency of all statistical data used for continuous analysis of the results and cross-checking that are a part of the compiling GDP.

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

The leading approaches to compile GDP in the framework of annual national accounts in Montenegro are the production and expenditure approach. Consistency is obtained via reconciliation/balancing process.

Notably, changes in inventories and valuables are derived as residuals. The same approach is used for the compilation of quarterly national accounts. 

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).

In order to meet the methodological requirements as much as possible the conceptual adjustments, adjustments for exhaustiveness and balancing adjustments are made. The seasonal adjustment was done with the support of the bilateral technical help on seasonal adjustment to the Statistical office of Montenegro and evaluated in the frame of projects under preaccession assistance programme. Data are experimental and were transmitted to Eurostat for time series 1Q2006 - 3Q2020, expenditure approach.

No comments.