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.
National Accounts (Methods, Standards and Sector Accounts) Unit
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
National Statistics Office (NSO), Lascaris, Valletta, VLT 2000, Malta
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
17 February 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
17 February 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
7 April 2025
3.1. Data description
The set of statistics for institutional sectors is part of the national accounts system, and accordingly, it consists of coherent definitions and classifications that show how the income of the sectors is created, distributed and redistributed. The economic circuit shows the individual sector’s production and transactions with the other domestic sectors and the external sector, and it is described in a reconciled system of accounts based on double-entry/quadruple-entry bookkeeping (each of the two parties registers each transaction twice).
The non-financial accounts by institutional sector describe the results achieved by households, businesses, non-profit institutions and general government in the different phases of the economic process. The behaviour of resident operators is described starting from the generation of income resulting directly from the production process and its distribution between the production factors (labour, capital) and general government (via taxes on production and imports, and subsidies). It enables the operating surplus (or mixed income in the case of households) and primary income to be determined. Following is the representation of the effects produced by the redistributive policies implemented by the public sector and by other private sectors (resident and otherwise), thus managing to measure the resources that economic operators have available for their consumption or save for investment in tangible assets and/or financial.
If the savings are not sufficient to finance the investment, debt is created, which is necessary cover using external financing. On the contrary, a surplus of available resources compared to spending needs indicates a financing capacity.
In principle, institutional units are grouped in six sectors based on their economic behaviour. A sector thus includes a group of institutional units engaging in identical economic behaviour. As a matter of principle, the national accounts operate with six main sectors: non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households, non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) and the external sector.
A statement of accounts is drawn up for each sector, thus facilitating the distribution of transactions and balancing items on the individual sectors. The institutional sectors contain a lot of valuable information about the economy, and this is significant for economic analyses and/or economic policy. Among the absolute key indicators in the institutional sectors, there are disposable income, consumption, savings and real investments.
The European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) is the internationally harmonized EU framework for National Accounting. The ESA 2010 provides a methodology on common standards, definitions, internationally harmonised classifications, and accounting rules that are used for compiling comparable national accounts.
Sector grouping ESA2010 sectors is a statistical classification. The sector code is used to group institutional units with the same primary activity and function. For example, the primary activity and function describe if a unit produces market or non-market services. An institutional unit is characterised by decision-making autonomy in the exercise of its principal function. Institutional units are also called economical entities. The sector code divides the economy into six overall sectors:
The non-financial corporations sector (S.11);
The financial corporations sector (S.12);
General government (S.13);
Household sector (S.14);
Non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) (S.15); and
Rest of the world (S.2).
As regards S.14 and S.15 = S1M = Households + NPISH, these sectors are worked out separately in the sector accounts compilation.
An additional Not sectorised category (S.1N) is introduced for sector accounts data transmission/presentation purposes. The Not sectorised category describes transactions that conceptually cannot be allocated to domestic institutional sectors. This is the case only for transactions in taxes and subsidies in products (D.21-D.31) as elements of GDP by production approach.
The households sector comprises all households including unincorporated household enterprises. These cover most sole proprietorships and most partnerships that do not have a legal status independent from their owners. Therefore the household sector also generates output and entrepreneurial income.
The non-financial corporations sector comprises all private and public corporate enterprises that produce goods or provide non-financial services to the market. Accordingly, the government sector excludes such public enterprises (except corporations having mainly non-market output and being controlled by government unit) and comprises central, state (regional) and local government and social security funds.
The financial corporations sector comprises all private and public entities engaged in financial intermediation such as monetary financial institutions (Central bank and other banks, money market funds), investment funds, insurance corporations and pension funds.
Rest of the world sector consists of non-resident units insofar as they are engaged in transactions with resident institutional sectors.
Classification of transactions The sector accounts are part of the national accounts and thus consist of a logical and coherent classification system without which it would not be possible to gain an overview of the immense number of financial transactions that take place in the economy during a given period of time.
The institutional sectors classify only three types of items: two transaction items and a balance sheet item.
Product transactions (P): show the origin of products (domestic production or import) and their use (intermediate consumption, consumption, investments or export);
Distributive transactions (D):show the distribution of the value added on labour, capital and the general government sector as well as the redistribution of income and wealth; and
Balances (B): show the aggregate balancing item of individual accounts.
Classification of accounts For each of the six main sectors, sector accounts are drawn up that show all relevant transactions.
The following six accounts are relevant for the institutional sectors:
Production account: shows the value added that was created in resident production units.
Income generation account: shows gross operating surplus (and mixed income) accruing to resident production units after payment of production taxes, net, and compensation of employees.
Allocation of primary income account: total primary income, when other income generated by way of compensation to employees and property income (interests, dividends, etc.) has been added.
Allocation of secondary income account: taxes on income and capital are added as well as other current transfers (including development aid), whereby the disposable income is generated.
Use of disposable income account: shows the use of the disposable income on consumption and savings.
Capital account: shows the use of savings on investments, capital transfers or as borrowing or lending, net.
The full sequence of accounts leads to the derivation of net borrowing or lending. Negative net borrowing or lending reflects that the disposable income has not been sufficient to cover the period’s consumption and investment activity. Since any economic transaction is always financed, a negative net borrowing or lending equals foreign funding, i.e. borrowing abroad.
3.3. Coverage - sector
All institutional sectors, including the rest of the world, are covered. S.14 and S.15 = S1M = Households + NPISH are worked out separately.
In principle, the six sectors can be subdivided into sub-sectors, however, in Malta, only the General government sector is further subdivided between central and local government.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The concepts, definitions and classifications are based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). The non-financial 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 non-financial accumulation. Transactions with non-residents are recorded in the "rest of the world" account. The sector accounts thus show the interactions among the different sectors of the resident economy and between the resident economy and the rest of the world.
The transactions are grouped into various categories that have a distinct economic meaning, such as 'compensation of employees' (comprising wages and salaries, before taxes and social contributions are deducted, and social contributions paid by the employers). In turn, these categories of transactions are shown in a sequence of accounts, each of which covers a specific economic process. This ranges from production, income generation and income (re)distribution, through the use of income, for consumption and saving, and the investment, as shown in the capital account, to transactions such as borrowing and lending. Each non-financial transaction is recorded as an increase in the "resources" of a certain sector and an increase in the "uses" of another sector. For instance, the resources side of the "dividends" transaction category records the amounts of dividends receivable by the different sectors of the economy, whereas the uses side shows dividends payable. For each type of transaction, total resources of all sectors and the rest of the world equal total uses. Each account leads to a meaningful balancing item, the value of which equals total resources minus total uses. Typically, such balancing items, such as GDP or saving, are important economic indicators. They are carried over to the next account.
The production account records the output of goods and services as its main resource, to which taxes less subsidies on products are added to obtain total resources of an economy at market prices. The main use in the production account is "intermediate consumption" - such as the consumption of fuel within a production process. The difference between resources and uses is the balancing item "gross value added" for individual domestic sectors and gross domestic product (GDP) for total economy . This gross value added is then carried over as a resource to the subsequent set of accounts, the generation and distribution of income accounts, which eventually yield "disposable income" as a balancing item. This conceptual and numerical inter-linkage of the accounts ensures the consistent derivation of key economic indicators. "Net lending/net borrowing" is derived from the capital account by comparing "gross capital formation" (mainly investment in capital goods and software) plus the net acquisition of "non-produced, non-financial assets" (such as land or licences) with "gross saving" plus net "capital transfers" (such as an investment grants). If saving plus net capital transfers received exceeds non-financial investment, a sector has a surplus of funds and becomes a net lender to other domestic sectors and/or the rest of the world.
The transactions are recorded on an accrual basis (i.e. not on a cash basis), that is, when economic value is created, transformed or extinguished.
3.5. Statistical unit
Following the ESA 2010 guidelines, national accounts subdivide the economy into two types of units: (a) institutional unit; and (b) local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU). Institutional units are used when describing income, expenditure and financial flows, and when compiling balance sheets. Local KAUs are 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 of an institutional unit in the economic territory, where it has its centre of predominant economic interest if it has decision making autonomy.
A local KAU groups all the parts of an institutional unit 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 institutional unit.
In Malta, business accounts are generally available for entire enterprises, the enterprise being the smallest legally independent institutional unit. The KAU concept is used in exceptional cases, such as large enterprises which can provide the basic data sources necessary for the compilation of production, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, operating surplus, employment, and gross fixed capital formation. In such cases legal units are split across industries.
The concept of homogeneous units is not applied in Malta.
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).
3.7. Reference area
Malta.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Malta is one of the countries whose GDP at current prices represents less than 1% of the corresponding EU total. Consequently, quarterly non-financial accounts by sector are only obligatory for S.1, S.13 and S.2.
Quarterly sector accounts data for S.1, S.2 and S.13 are available from 1999 onwards. Data is available at t+85.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Flows and stocks in Malta are published in Euro.
Data for 1995 to 2007 are also published in Euro and may be converted to the former national currency i.e. the Maltese Lira (LM) to Euro (€) using the fixed rate [LM1= €2.33] for all years.
The usual reference period to be used for presenting national accounts data is the quarter for quarterly data.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The Malta Statistics Authority Act, 2000. The Act empowers the NSO to collect, compile, extract and release official statistics related to demographic, social, environment, economic and general activities and conditions of Malta.
As a member of the European Union (EU), Malta observes the Regulation (EU) of the European Parliament and of the Council No. 223/2009 dealing with the collection and dissemination of official statistics. Moreover, all council regulations dealing with the collection of official statistics need to be observed by the NSO.
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. This allows national data to deviate temporarily from the ESA 2010 transmission requirements. These derogations have now expired. The office is still in the process of fulfilling some of the datasets required in the ESA 2010 transmission programme.
Some other legal acts with relevance to national accounts are:
National accounts data are a key instrument for economic analysis.
The National Accounts (Methods, Standards and Sector Accounts) Unit compiles and publishes free online quarterly and annual sets of consistent, reliable and comparable macroeconomic accounts intended to meet the needs of government, private-sector analysts, policy makers and decision takers.
National users include the Central Bank of Malta, Ministry for Finance, Economic Policy Department, researchers, students, and politicians, among others.
Other users include the European Commission, European Parliament, European Council, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Credit Rating Agencies, researchers, and students.
Article 40 of the Malta Statistics Authority Act, 2000 stipulates the restrictions on the use of information while Article 41 stipulates the prohibition of disclosure of information. Furthermore, Section IX of the Act (Offences and Penalties) lays down the measures to be taken in case of unlawful exercise of any officer of statistics regarding confidentiality of data.
Since its inception, the NSO has always assured that all data collected remains confidential and that it is used for statistical purposes only according to the articles and derogations stipulated in the laws quoted above. The Office is obliged to protect the identity of data providers and refrain from divulging any data to third parties that might lead to the identification of persons or entities.
Upon employment, all NSO employees are informed of the rules and duties pertaining to confidential information and its treatment. In line with stipulations of the MSA Act, before commencing work, every employee is required to take an oath of secrecy whose text is included in the same Act.
An internal policy on anonymisation and pseudo-anonymisation is in place to ascertain that adequate methods are used for the protection of data which the office collects and shares with the public in its capacity as the National Statistics Office. The policy is meant to safeguard confidentiality of both personal and business data entrusted to the NSO. The document provides guidance for all NSO employees who process data on a daily basis as to how anonymisation and pseudo-anonymisation methods should be applied. The policy applies to all confidential, restricted and internal information, regardless of form (paper or electronic documents, applications and databases) that is received, processed, stored and disseminated by the NSO.
At European level:
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4) (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.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not applicable.
8.1. Release calendar
An advance release calendar is maintained by the NSO and published on the NSO Website.
The NSO's Calendar projects in advance, six months of news releases (including the current month and five other subsequent months).
QSA are transmitted to Eurostat at t+85 days following the end of the reference period, The compilation of QSA is limited to S.1, S.13 and S.2, as Malta’s GDP at current prices is less than 1% of the corresponding Union total GDP. QSA are available on Eurostat's Online Database and they are published nationally for S.13 on the NSO Website.
This also applies for seasonal adjusted QSA data.
Till now, as from 2024, only Annual non-financial sector accounts data is released on a national level, on October.
An internal policy on dissemination is in place to govern the dissemination of official statistics in an impartial, independent and timely manner, making them available simultaneously to all users.
The NSO’s primary channel for the dissemination of official statistics is the NSO website.
Tailored requests for statistical information may also be submitted through the said website.
The Central Bank of Malta, Ministry for Finance, Economic Policy Department are among the main national institutions that would request data beyond what is published.
Other international institutions include but are not restricted to the European Commission, European Parliament, European Council and International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, this can also include researchers, students, politicians, other international agencies depending on the level of depth of the research and/or project that they would be doing and subject to confidentiality issues too.
QSA are transmitted to Eurostat at t+85 days following the end of the reference period.
QSA are available on Eurostat’s database and they are published nationally for S.13 on the NSO website.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The NSO news releases are covered by a pre-announced release calendar. Only in occurence of unforseen circumstances, news releases appearing in the NSO calendar are subject to deferral.
New key national accounts data may also be presented in press conferences or press briefings. A news or a press release is always issued with every publication of data on the NSO Website.
The most important results of national accounts are issued in the following news release:
The National Reference Metadata report in Single Integrated Metadata Structure (SIMS) is available on the NSO website and is updated from time to time following any necessary updates.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Sector Accounts data are disseminated through Eurostat's website.
This code of practice obliges the Office with a clear legal mandate to collect, produce, disseminate data for statistical purposes and make sure that data are relevant, timely, accurate, and that comply with the principles of professional independence, impartiality and objectivity.
The QMF encompasses the entire statistical data lifecycle, from initial planning to data collection, processing and dissemination, and underscores the critical role that accurate and reliable data play in informed decision-making and policy formulation.
This QMF addresses the following topics in detail:
Statistical surveys;
Accessing, using and managing the use of administrative data;
Collaboration, data sharing, and relationships with data providers;
Statistical confidentiality;
Sampling frames and coverage;
Questionnaire design and testing;
Interviewer recruitment, training and assignment;
Methods of data collection;
Response burden;
Consistent application of standards on concepts, definitions and classifications;
Statistical data editing and imputation;
Statistical estimation and analysis;
Indices and indicators;
Weight construction and adjustment for non-response;
Consistency checks;
Time series and seasonal adjustment;
Assignment of disposition codes and response rate calculation;
Survey non-response;
Presentation of statistical data;
Revision of statistical data;
Metadata documentation and quality reporting;
User satisfaction survey; and
Staff satisfaction survey.
The standards set by the QMF have a direct impact on data sources used for the compilation of annual and quarterly institutional sector accounts.
11.1. Quality assurance
Quality is assured through an approach which distinguishes between ex-ante checks (source statistics), ongoing national accounts checks (results), ex-post checks on national accounts (methods used), external checks, and consultations (e.g. Eurostat, European Court of Auditors, International Monetary Fund). In addition, discussions with user representatives (Central Bank of Malta, Ministry for Finance) take place following each news release.
In addition, they are explained in more detail in many international methodology handbooks (e.g. for the compilation of quarterly national accounts or seasonal and calendar adjustment).
11.2. Quality management - assessment
During the compilation of non-financial quarterly and annual sector accounts, prior publication and data transmission, all variables are cross-checked against the original source data. Checks are incorporated in the system such that any incoherence is highlighted and corrected prior dissemination. These checks make sure that there is coherence between the assessed annual and quarterly statistics, main aggregates, and additivity where applicable.
Revisions and year-to-year changes, are analysed using a series of tables, showing the full time series since 1995, separately, for each sector. These tables are used to derive graphs for key indicators, separately, by sector and sometimes, across sectors. They often lead to further checks at micro-level, and a deeper economic analysis, prior publication. Furthermore, they are fully documented, and are used at a later stage, to populate the metadata report. Year-to-year changes by sector, at NACE division level, are also analysed using graphs. This whole process supports the economic interpretation of results and serves as the primary tool for drafting the press release.
The data validation tools developed by Eurostat are also used prior transmission.
ESA 2010 data transmissions are subject to regular quality assessment reviews.
Quarterly sector accounts offer complete and consistent description of the economic cycle from production to the accumulation of non-financial assets for the whole economy and institutional sectors.
Sector accounts allow for an analysis of the interactions among institutional sectors as well as between them and the rest of the world, and the derivation of key macroeconomic indicators.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
NSO carries out a User Satisfaction Survey every 5 to 7 years, in order to gather the perception of the NSO’s users with regards to the quality and timeliness of data produced by the office. Users are asked about their perception with regard to the quality, timeliness and usefulness of NSO News Releases and tailor-made requests provided.
The NSO keeps record of:
The number of News Releases and publications disseminated on its website;
The users to whom statistical products are provided; and
The number of requests that are processed every year.
The last User Satisfaction Survey was carried out in 2022 and addressed all persons over 16 years of age who made at least one request for information to the NSO during 2020 and 2021, together with a list of users who subscribed to receive NSO’s news releases. An invitation to participate in this survey was sent to all selected respondents by email. NSO also provided a link to this survey on the website to facilitate further access to the online questionnaire. Questions were based on previous versions of the User Satisfaction Survey carried out by the NSO, and on Eurostat’s user satisfaction survey questionnaire together with the proposed guidelines (for more information, see Eurostat 2024 user survey.
12.3. Completeness
Quarterly sector accounts sector accounts offer complete and consistent description of the economic cycle from production to the accumulation of non-financial assets for the whole economy and institutional sectors, including rest of the world.
Malta is one of the countries whose GDP at current prices represents less than 1% of the corresponding EU total consequently quarterly non-financial accounts by sector are only obligatory for S.1, S.13 and S.2. Quarterly data for S.1 and S.2 is available from 2000 onwards while that for S.13 is available from 1999 onwards. Data is available at t+85 in case of quarterly data.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The ability of the national accounts to describe the economic reality accurately depends partly on the uncertainty associated with the sources and partly on the model assumptions guiding their preparation. It is possible to draw up some parts more accurately than others, as better source data is available. The first estimates of national accounts for a period will be more uncertain than the final version, which is released after three years, as revisions are made regularly as new source data becomes available.
Setting up the accounting system involves a number of consistency checks, data confrontations and checks by comparison with financial accounts. The difference between the borrowing or lending, net, calculated from the financial side of the national accounts and the borrowing or lending, net, calculated from the non-financial part of the national accounts can be considered to reflect the overall uncertainty in the financial as well as the non-financial part of the national accounts.
The reconciliation and integration between financial and non-financial annual accounts, are currently performed only for the General government sector. Adjustments for vertical discrepancies in other sectors are not performed. The NSO together with the Central Bank of Malta, will start the analysis of vertical discrepancies in the upcoming years.
The overall accuracy is supported by ensuring that total uses and total resources are balanced at the level of individual transaction categories giving a coherent set of data for the total national economy and transactions with the rest of the world.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Main sources of non-sampling errors include coverage errors, measurement errors, processing errors, non-response errors, and modelling errors.
A brief description of main errors:
Administrative sources are used in absence of surveys and censuses in a number of NACE sections, however administrative sources cover only the Non-financial sector and thus estimates have to be done for Household sector which in result, increase the non-sampling error.
Response errors by respondents may arise due to for e.g. definitional differences, misunderstandings, or deliberate misreporting; e.g. deviations of quarterly data provided in questionnaires from the annual audited final accounts.
Mistakes in recording the data or coding it to standard classifications.
Other errors relate to non-response, processing, or imputation of values for missing or inconsistent data.
14.1. Timeliness
Quarterly institutional sector accounts data is transmitted to Eurostat at t+85 days, as per ESA 2010 Transmission Program.
14.2. Punctuality
Statistical data are usually published without delay in relation to the pre-announced dates of publication on the NSO Website and are transmitted to Eurostat at t+85 days. Data to other institutions are provided within established timeframes often covered by Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or upon request.
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 System of National Accounts (2008), which is consistent with ESA 2010.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Quarterly institutional sector accounts data without breaks are provided for Malta from 1999 onwards.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
T8/T801 vs T1A/T1Q - Table 800 and T1A are only consistent in September. Table 801 is consistent with the latest transmission of T1A and T1Q for the whole series.
T8/T801 vs T2/T25 - Annual and quarterly non-financial accounts (Tables 800/801) are consistent with Government Finance statistics (T2/T25) from 2020 onwards. Any updates in GFS data for 1995 to 2019 will be integrated in the next benchmark revision. The cut-off date for annual and quarterly non-financial accounts for S.1 and S.2 is t+60 to ensure consistency with main aggregates. Updates in Government Finance statistics between the t+60 and the t+85 may lead to some inconsistencies in the data transmissions of December, March, and June. Vintage issues are generally resolved in the transmission of the following quarter.
T8/T801 vs Balance of Payments (BoP) – 1995-2016: In August 2024, the National Statistics Office (NSO) carried out a benchmark revision in National Accounts data for the reference period 1995 to 2024Q2 and in Balance of Payments data for the reference period 2017 to 2024Q2. This means that National Accounts and Balance of payments data is not consistent for reference period 1995-2016. S2 as provided in National Accounts is consistent across the whole time series whereas in the Balance of Payments domain there is a break in series between 2016 and 2017.
T8/T801 vs Balance of Payments (BoP) – 2017-2019: In August 2024, the National Statistics Office (NSO) carried out a benchmark revision in National Accounts data for the reference period 1995 to 2024Q2 and in Balance of Payments data for the reference period 2017 to 2024Q2 . This means that National Accounts and Balance of payments should be consistent for reference period 2017-2019. However, some discrepancies may still arise.
T8/T801 vs Balance of Payments (BoP) – Transmission of BoP data for 2025Q2 was limited to 2024Q1-2025Q2 while S.2 in T8/T801 was revised up to 2020. This leads to vintage differences. Moreover, BOP is adjusted for FISIM, GFS and other variables to ensure consistency with National Accounts, thus leading to differences between BoP and S.2 in T8/T801. Given that National Accounts data has been updated with Special Purpose Entities from 2021 onwards, large discrepancies will be observed mostly in property income.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Ensuring consistency between the institutional sectors and the other data of the national accounts is a very important criterion for success since the system should be coherent and balanced.
A fair share of resources is used to meet this objective in the institutional sectors, because the data of the institutional sectors is included in a vast number of contexts across the national accounts.
Annual and quarterly institutional sector accounts consistency is ensured at t+9 months. On a quarterly basis consistency is ensured between S.1 and S.2 and S.13. Malta is except from the compilation of S.11, S.14 and S.15 at quarterly intervals.
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
NSO publishes the Revisions of Official Statistics Policy on the website. It aims at safeguarding a coordinated revision system across the statistical domains. The policy considers the needs and causes for revisions, time and frequency of revisions, data and other statistical products affected by such revisions, and the length of periods revised.
In national accounts, there are usually three frequencies at which data are revised backwards, namely quarterly, annually and benchmark revisions:
Every quarter: data are revised for the previous quarters and the depth of the revision depends on the latest finalised Supply and Use Tables (SUTs); all quarterly data are supported by revised annual data.
Every year: the depth of the revision depends on the latest finalised SUTs.
Benchmark revisions: these are major revisions aimed at incorporating major new data sources or methodological changes, or a change in what is being described. These imply a full backward revision of all time periods. These benchmark revisions are ideally carried out every five years, however, revisions resulting from reservations or other methodological changes may lead to an anticipation of such benchmark revisions. Important benchmark revisions are however co-ordinated across domains.
17.2. Data revision - practice
National accounts data are subject to continuous routine revisions as new information from surveys, censuses, and administrative records become available. This information is integrated annually, usually in August. Routine revisions are not preannounced, but information is published in the methodological notes in the news release.
Metadata as transmitted to Eurostat includes details on major events, major revisions, flags, consistency, zero and negative numbers and methodology.
Benchmark revisions are generally pre-announced to the public in advance and explanatory notes are published prior and after publication.
18.1. Source data
Any economic statistical data available are used for the compilation of national accounts data.
When the first estimate for a given period is prepared, it is done before all source data for the period is available. The calculations are based on the structure of the last final national accounts, which is projected with indicators from e.g. the business cycle statistics. When new source data becomes available, it is incorporated in the national accounts at set intervals. Three years after a given period, the national accounts are regarded as final. This same data is used for the compilation of annual non-financial sector accounts which is compiled once every year.
The key sources available are:
Main aggregates;
The Balance of Payments;
Quarterly/annual government finance statistics;
Quarterly non-financial sector accounts for financial corporations;
Non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH); and
Securities statistics, MFI statistics and finance company statistics.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Quarterly sector accounts data is transmitted to Eurostat in line with the deadlines specified in the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme.
Underlying data are collected from national sources. As data sources vary, so does the frequency of collection, from monthly to annually.
18.3. Data collection
The rounds of data collection are specific to data sources, with the latter being available either monthly, quarterly, annually or every few years.
18.4. Data validation
Validation checks are carried out in terms of completeness, timeliness and consistency.
The rising awareness and importance of consistency across tables, led Eurostat to modify validation rules in order to take into account cross table consistency in the validation process. Validation is unsuccessful in cases of major Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Net Lending / Net Borrowing (B9) inconsistencies over the last four years. Such data are neither validated nor disseminated and is resolved if a country retransmits data satisfying the validation rules. In case of major inconsistencies in other variables common between tables, countries are invited to send metadata explaining the reasons for the inconsistencies.
Consistency between the annual sector accounts and main aggregates of Table 1 of the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme (TP), is ensured, because relevant transactions from the main aggregates are transferred to the sector accounts production environment, without making further adjustments at macro level, in the sector accounts integration process.
Consistency between Annual Sector Accounts (ASA) and General government of Table 2 of the ESA 2010 TP, is ensured, because quarterly and annual non-financial accounts for General government are integrated directly in ASA, without any modifications. Full consistency across the series, is only achieved in benchmark years. In between benchmark years, ASA are only updated for open years. This ensures consistency with main aggregates, but may create inconsistencies with General government, if back data for Government Finance Statistics (GFS) are updated for closed years.
During August 2024, the NSO carried out a benchmark revision both in National Accounts data, for the reference period 1995 to 2024Q2, and in BoP data, for the reference period 2017 to 2024Q2. This means that, National Accounts and Balance of Payments (BoP) data, are not consistent for reference period 1995-2016. Rest of the World (S.2) as provided in National Accounts, is consistent across the whole time series, whereas in the BoP domain, there is a break in series between 2016 and 2017.
Inconsistencies between ASA and BoP may still arise between 2017 to date. BoP data are modified to be aligned with National Accounts and GFS data. An effort is being made to ensure this consistency, in the near future. Validation rules are for now not applied for inconsistencies with BoP.
The reconciliation and integration between financial and non-financial annual accounts, are currently performed only for the General government sector. Adjustments for vertical discrepancies in other sectors are not performed. The NSO together with the Central Bank of Malta (CBM), will start the analysis of vertical discrepancies in the upcoming years. Validation rules are for now not applied for inconsistencies with financial accounts.
18.5. Data compilation
QSA for S.1 and S.2, are compiled by the National Accounts Methods, Standards and Sector Accounts Unit, whereas S.13 accounts are compiled by the Public Finance Unit (PFU). Data for S.2 is derived mainly from Balance of Payments statistics.
The economy totals for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI), are mainly accomplished through the production approach. They are determined at t+2 months following the reference period, when the National Accounts Production Unit publishes main aggregates. At t+2 months following the reference period, Malta also publishes GNI. Thus, up to the Allocation of primary income account, sector accounts estimates are derived subsequently from compiled S.1 totals.
Whom-to-whom matrices are compiled for current and capital transfers account on a quarterly basis.
Coherence between QSA and S.2, as compiled by National Accounts, is ensured. At present, it is not possible to adhere to BoP statistics. This is mainly due to some items, which need to be aligned with National Accounts.
18.6. Adjustment
The following adjustments are performed in the national accounts compilation:
Data Validation Adjustments;
Conceptual Adjustments;
Exhaustiveness Adjustments; and
Balancing Adjustments.
For more detailed information as regards the compilation of annual non-financial sector accounts data, it is recommended to visit the online publication of the Non-Financial Annual Sector Accounts (ASA) Inventory, Section D.
Seasonal adjustment is limited to quarterly sector accounts and is carried out through a model-based method using two linked seasonal adjustment programs i.e. TRAMO (Time Series Regression with Arima Noise, Missing Observation and Outliers) and SEAT (Signal Extraction in Arima Time series). JDemetra+ version 2.2.2 is used as a software program. As regards the approach, direct/indirect/concurrent adjustment/calendar adjustment is tested but generally not present.
The models are usually updated on an annual basis, but this may not always be possible due to human resource constraints. Moreover, there is no fixed quarter in which the annual analysis is done.
For Malta’s quarterly national accounts, the estimation of seasonally adjusted series generally includes calendar adjustments, but these series are not benchmarked to annual data. Calendar adjustment is based on the Malta’s national holiday calendar.
The process of seasonal adjustment follows the recommendations of the ESS Guidelines on seasonal adjustment – 2024 edition. Automatic selection of a model and decomposition scheme is applied together with manual model selection for the important and problematic time series.
Seasonally adjusted series are available for:
Transactions
Other relevant information
B6G
Disposable income, gross
B8G
Saving, gross
D3
Subsidies
B9
Net lending / net borrowing
D9_pay
Capital transfers, payable
D9_rec
Capital transfers, receivable
OTR
Total general government revenue
OTE
Total general government expenditure
P3
Final consumption expenditure
P51G
Gross fixed capital formation: model applied to period 1999Q1-2010Q4
P51G
Gross fixed capital formation: model applied to period 2011Q1 onwards
B1GQ
Gross Domestic Product
B2A3G
Operating surplus, gross plus mixed income, gross
B5G
Balance of primary income, gross. Indirect series (GDP plus primary income receivable less primary income payable to the rest of the world)
P31
Individual consumption expenditure
P6
Total exports
P61
Exports of goods
P62
Exports of services
D8_51_C
Adjustment for the change in pension entitlements (resources): non-seasonal
P7
Total imports
P71
Imports of goods
P72
Imports of services
D8_51_D
Adjustment for the change in pension entitlements (uses): non-seasonal
IN1_D
Distributive transactions: compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports, subsidies, property income (uses)
IN1_C
Distributive transactions: compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports, subsidies, property income (resources)
IN21_D
Current taxes on income, wealth, etc.; Social Contributions and Benefits; Other Current Transfers
IN21_C
Current taxes on income, wealth, etc.; Social Contributions and Benefits; Other Current Transfers
No further comments.
The set of statistics for institutional sectors is part of the national accounts system, and accordingly, it consists of coherent definitions and classifications that show how the income of the sectors is created, distributed and redistributed. The economic circuit shows the individual sector’s production and transactions with the other domestic sectors and the external sector, and it is described in a reconciled system of accounts based on double-entry/quadruple-entry bookkeeping (each of the two parties registers each transaction twice).
The non-financial accounts by institutional sector describe the results achieved by households, businesses, non-profit institutions and general government in the different phases of the economic process. The behaviour of resident operators is described starting from the generation of income resulting directly from the production process and its distribution between the production factors (labour, capital) and general government (via taxes on production and imports, and subsidies). It enables the operating surplus (or mixed income in the case of households) and primary income to be determined. Following is the representation of the effects produced by the redistributive policies implemented by the public sector and by other private sectors (resident and otherwise), thus managing to measure the resources that economic operators have available for their consumption or save for investment in tangible assets and/or financial.
If the savings are not sufficient to finance the investment, debt is created, which is necessary cover using external financing. On the contrary, a surplus of available resources compared to spending needs indicates a financing capacity.
In principle, institutional units are grouped in six sectors based on their economic behaviour. A sector thus includes a group of institutional units engaging in identical economic behaviour. As a matter of principle, the national accounts operate with six main sectors: non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households, non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) and the external sector.
A statement of accounts is drawn up for each sector, thus facilitating the distribution of transactions and balancing items on the individual sectors. The institutional sectors contain a lot of valuable information about the economy, and this is significant for economic analyses and/or economic policy. Among the absolute key indicators in the institutional sectors, there are disposable income, consumption, savings and real investments.
The concepts, definitions and classifications are based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). The non-financial 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 non-financial accumulation. Transactions with non-residents are recorded in the "rest of the world" account. The sector accounts thus show the interactions among the different sectors of the resident economy and between the resident economy and the rest of the world.
The transactions are grouped into various categories that have a distinct economic meaning, such as 'compensation of employees' (comprising wages and salaries, before taxes and social contributions are deducted, and social contributions paid by the employers). In turn, these categories of transactions are shown in a sequence of accounts, each of which covers a specific economic process. This ranges from production, income generation and income (re)distribution, through the use of income, for consumption and saving, and the investment, as shown in the capital account, to transactions such as borrowing and lending. Each non-financial transaction is recorded as an increase in the "resources" of a certain sector and an increase in the "uses" of another sector. For instance, the resources side of the "dividends" transaction category records the amounts of dividends receivable by the different sectors of the economy, whereas the uses side shows dividends payable. For each type of transaction, total resources of all sectors and the rest of the world equal total uses. Each account leads to a meaningful balancing item, the value of which equals total resources minus total uses. Typically, such balancing items, such as GDP or saving, are important economic indicators. They are carried over to the next account.
The production account records the output of goods and services as its main resource, to which taxes less subsidies on products are added to obtain total resources of an economy at market prices. The main use in the production account is "intermediate consumption" - such as the consumption of fuel within a production process. The difference between resources and uses is the balancing item "gross value added" for individual domestic sectors and gross domestic product (GDP) for total economy . This gross value added is then carried over as a resource to the subsequent set of accounts, the generation and distribution of income accounts, which eventually yield "disposable income" as a balancing item. This conceptual and numerical inter-linkage of the accounts ensures the consistent derivation of key economic indicators. "Net lending/net borrowing" is derived from the capital account by comparing "gross capital formation" (mainly investment in capital goods and software) plus the net acquisition of "non-produced, non-financial assets" (such as land or licences) with "gross saving" plus net "capital transfers" (such as an investment grants). If saving plus net capital transfers received exceeds non-financial investment, a sector has a surplus of funds and becomes a net lender to other domestic sectors and/or the rest of the world.
The transactions are recorded on an accrual basis (i.e. not on a cash basis), that is, when economic value is created, transformed or extinguished.
Following the ESA 2010 guidelines, national accounts subdivide the economy into two types of units: (a) institutional unit; and (b) local kind-of-activity unit (local KAU). Institutional units are used when describing income, expenditure and financial flows, and when compiling balance sheets. Local KAUs are 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 of an institutional unit in the economic territory, where it has its centre of predominant economic interest if it has decision making autonomy.
A local KAU groups all the parts of an institutional unit 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 institutional unit.
In Malta, business accounts are generally available for entire enterprises, the enterprise being the smallest legally independent institutional unit. The KAU concept is used in exceptional cases, such as large enterprises which can provide the basic data sources necessary for the compilation of production, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, operating surplus, employment, and gross fixed capital formation. In such cases legal units are split across industries.
The concept of homogeneous units is not applied in Malta.
The national accounts population of a country consists of all resident statistical units (institutional units or local KAUs, see section 3.5).
Malta.
The usual reference period to be used for presenting national accounts data is the quarter for quarterly data.
The ability of the national accounts to describe the economic reality accurately depends partly on the uncertainty associated with the sources and partly on the model assumptions guiding their preparation. It is possible to draw up some parts more accurately than others, as better source data is available. The first estimates of national accounts for a period will be more uncertain than the final version, which is released after three years, as revisions are made regularly as new source data becomes available.
Setting up the accounting system involves a number of consistency checks, data confrontations and checks by comparison with financial accounts. The difference between the borrowing or lending, net, calculated from the financial side of the national accounts and the borrowing or lending, net, calculated from the non-financial part of the national accounts can be considered to reflect the overall uncertainty in the financial as well as the non-financial part of the national accounts.
The reconciliation and integration between financial and non-financial annual accounts, are currently performed only for the General government sector. Adjustments for vertical discrepancies in other sectors are not performed. The NSO together with the Central Bank of Malta, will start the analysis of vertical discrepancies in the upcoming years.
The overall accuracy is supported by ensuring that total uses and total resources are balanced at the level of individual transaction categories giving a coherent set of data for the total national economy and transactions with the rest of the world.
Flows and stocks in Malta are published in Euro.
Data for 1995 to 2007 are also published in Euro and may be converted to the former national currency i.e. the Maltese Lira (LM) to Euro (€) using the fixed rate [LM1= €2.33] for all years.
QSA for S.1 and S.2, are compiled by the National Accounts Methods, Standards and Sector Accounts Unit, whereas S.13 accounts are compiled by the Public Finance Unit (PFU). Data for S.2 is derived mainly from Balance of Payments statistics.
The economy totals for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI), are mainly accomplished through the production approach. They are determined at t+2 months following the reference period, when the National Accounts Production Unit publishes main aggregates. At t+2 months following the reference period, Malta also publishes GNI. Thus, up to the Allocation of primary income account, sector accounts estimates are derived subsequently from compiled S.1 totals.
Whom-to-whom matrices are compiled for current and capital transfers account on a quarterly basis.
Coherence between QSA and S.2, as compiled by National Accounts, is ensured. At present, it is not possible to adhere to BoP statistics. This is mainly due to some items, which need to be aligned with National Accounts.
Any economic statistical data available are used for the compilation of national accounts data.
When the first estimate for a given period is prepared, it is done before all source data for the period is available. The calculations are based on the structure of the last final national accounts, which is projected with indicators from e.g. the business cycle statistics. When new source data becomes available, it is incorporated in the national accounts at set intervals. Three years after a given period, the national accounts are regarded as final. This same data is used for the compilation of annual non-financial sector accounts which is compiled once every year.
The key sources available are:
Main aggregates;
The Balance of Payments;
Quarterly/annual government finance statistics;
Quarterly non-financial sector accounts for financial corporations;
Non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH); and
Securities statistics, MFI statistics and finance company statistics.
QSA are transmitted to Eurostat at t+85 days following the end of the reference period.
QSA are available on Eurostat’s database and they are published nationally for S.13 on the NSO website.
Quarterly institutional sector accounts data is transmitted to Eurostat at t+85 days, as per ESA 2010 Transmission Program.
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 System of National Accounts (2008), which is consistent with ESA 2010.
Quarterly institutional sector accounts data without breaks are provided for Malta from 1999 onwards.
