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.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
D1: Excessive deficit procedure, methodology and GFS
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
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
22 April 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
22 April 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
22 April 2025
3.1. Data description
The data correspond to quarterly financial accounts for the general government sector and follows the ESA2010 methodology. The data covers financial transactions and balance sheet items for general government (consolidated and non-consolidated) and its subsectors.
This includes a number of financial instruments (F.1, F.2, F.3, F.4, ...) as well as some balancing items such as net financial transactions, net financial worth and net financial assets and liabilties.
Data are available in million of euro, million of national currency (average exchange rates are used for transactions and end of period exchange rates are used for stocks) and as a percentage of GDP (for transactions quarterly GDP is used; for stocks a rolling sum of the last four quarters is used). For Croatia, which joined the euro area from 1 January 2023, the euro-fixed for periods up to the fourth quarter of 2022 is used, i.e. HRK divided by the irrevocable exchange rate.
In the table gov_10a_ggfa, annualised quarterly financial accounts for general government are presented. For financial transactions, data is summed over the four quarters of each year. For the conversion from national currency into euro, the yearly average exchange rate is used. For balance sheet items (stocks), the annualised data corresponds to the data of the fourth quarter. The percentage of GDP data of annualised data uses annual GDP transmitted by the Member States. In the course of the annualisation, small rounding differences may be amplified.
Data covers the general government sector (consolidated and non-consolidated) as defined in ESA2010, §2.111 and its subsectors (§2.112): central government, state government (where applicable), local government and social security funds (where applicable).
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The data correspond to quarterly financial accounts for the general government sector which are conceptually consistent with the corresponding annual data compiled on a national accounts (ESA2010) basis.
Quarterly financial accounts for general government include data on financial transactions and balance sheet items for general government (consolidated and non-consolidated) and its subsectors.
The primary classification of financial instruments comprises: monetary gold and special drawing rights (AF.1), currency and deposits (AF.2) with sub-category currency (AF.21), debt securities (AF.3) with a breakdown into short-term (AF.31) and long-term (AF.32) debt securities, loans (AF.4) with a breakdown into short-term loans (AF.41) and long-term loans (AF.42), equity and investment fund shares or units (AF.5) with a breakdown into equity (AF.51) and investment fund shares or units (AF.52), insurance, pension and standardised guarantees schemes (AF.6) with a breakdown into non-life insurance technical reserves (AF.61), pension entitlements, claims of pension funds on pension managers and entitlements to non-pension benefits (AF.63_AF.64_AF.65), provisions for calls under standardised guarantees (AF.66), financial derivatives and employee stock options (AF.7) and other accounts receivable/payable (AF.8).
The sector general government is divided into the following subsectors: central government (S.1311), state government (S.1312), local government (S.1313), social security funds (S.1314).
The financial instruments, sectors and subsectors to be transmitted on a compulsory basis can be found in the ESA2010 Transmission Programme in Annex B of the Regulation (EU) N° 549/2013 of 21 May 2013. For definitions of financial transactions and instruments, see ESA2010 chapter 5. For definitions of institutional sectors and subsectors, see ESA2010 chapter 2.
3.5. Statistical unit
Institutional units and groupings of units as defined in ESA2010.
The institutional units included in the general government sector (S.13) according to ESA2010 (paragraph 2.112) are the following:
(a) general government units which exist through a legal process to have judicial authority over other units in the economic territory, and administer and finance a group of activities, principally providing non-market goods and services, intended for the benefit of the community;
(b) a corporation or quasi-corporation which is a government unit, if its output is mainly non-market and a government unit controls it;
(c) non-profit institutions recognised as independent legal entities which are non-market producers and which are controlled by general government;
(d) autonomous pension funds, where there is a legal obligation to contribute, and where general government manages the funds with respect to the settlement and approval of contributions and benefits.
3.6. Statistical population
Target population is the general government sector.
3.7. Reference area
EU and euro area aggregates, EU Member States and Norway.
3.8. Coverage - Time
As defined in the ESA 2010 transmission programme, the data series to be provided start from 1999Q1 onwards, subject to country derogations. However, in practice for some countries the available series are longer (for example for the United Kingdom the data series start in 1987Q1) while for other countries, the period covered is shorter.
3.9. Base period
Not available.
Data are available in million of Euro, in million of national currency and as a percentage of GDP.
For euro area countries, for reference periods prior to accession of the country to the euro area, data in national currency are expressed in euro-fixed, that is the former national currency divided by the irrevocable exchange rate.
Quarterly data. Annualised quarterly data is calculated additionally.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA10) adopted in the form of Regulation (EU) N° 549/2013 of 21 May 2013.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not available.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not available.
8.1. Release calendar
Data is released together with quarterly non-financial accounts for general government (gov_10q_ggnfa) and quarterly general government gross debt (gov_10q_ggdebt) at around t+113 days after the end of the reference quarter. These aforementioned datasets comprise euroindicators and their release dates are communicated on the Eurostat website.
Any data updates received from Member States are processed and validated, implying a more frequent release of updated data. EU/EA aggregates are adjusted accordingly.
8.2. Release calendar access
See 8.1.
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Quarterly.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
See below.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Detailed tables on Government Finance Statistics.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details.
Quarterly financial accounts for general government are compiled with reference to the Regulation (EU) N° 549/2013 of 21 May 2013.
A manual on quarterly financial accounts for general government is available in this webpage. This manual provides a detailed insight into the sources and methods used by countries to compile the data on quarterly financial accounts for general government.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
The European Commission (Eurostat) submitted in 2006 a report to the European Parliament and Council assessing the reliability of quarterly data delivered by Member States.
This quality report was updated in 2008, on the basis of recent developments and improvements in data quality achieved since the publication of the first report in 2006. The updated quality report is available on the Eurostat Web Site.
11.1. Quality assurance
Data is verified for internal consistency and plausibility, also vis a vis other related data.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
While the overall quality of the data has significantly improved over the years and compilers and users have become more familiar with this data flow, some Member States must nevertheless implement some specific measures to further improve the quality of the reported data.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Not available.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
Overall, the dataset has a good level of completeness.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Most Member States conduct consistency as well as plausibility checks as part of their compilation routines. Consistency checks are made with EDP Table 3, with annual financial accounts, or on consolidation. Plausibility checks are made on the discrepancy with the capital account, the growth rates of stocks and other economic flows.
Member States monitor and report to Eurostat major events that underpin large transactions or large other economic flows (for other economic flows see § 5.3.).
13.2. Sampling error
Not available.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not available.
14.1. Timeliness
Under Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, data are transmitted from Member States to Eurostat three months after the end of the quarter to which the data refer to, at the latest. The deadline for transmission of provisional data is 85 days after the end of the reference quarter for Member States whose currency is the euro. Thereafter, data are validated before publication.
14.2. Punctuality
The data transmission deadline specified in the Regulation is respected by almost all Member States, which means that data are transmitted before the deadline of t+3 months or 85 days (see section 14.1 above) after the end of the reference quarter.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not available.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The data can be compared over time.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Several checks are carried out on the data before publication. These consist in checking the internal consistency of the data but also consistency with other datasets:
Quarterly data are compared with annual financial accounts.
Stocks of liabilities for the instruments F.2, F.31, F.32, F41 and F.42 are cross checked with quarterly debt data (by applying some validation criteria taking into account differences in valuation).
Quarterly financial transactions are validated against annual data provided for the EU excessive deficit procedure.
The statistical discrepancy between financial and non-financial accounts (B.9-B.9f) is closely followed.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not available.
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, the following revision policy has been established for government finance statistics.
Revision policy is set at the level of national authorities. In general, the data are revised for the latest years according to change from preliminary to half-finalised and final data sources. The complete time series can be revised due to changes in the methodology or methods of data compilation, correction of errors or in case of major and benchmark revisions. Revisions are accepted at any time and following validation, data is the republished for the country and EU / euro area aggregates concerned.
Revisions are broadly classified in 3 categories:
Current revisions, occuring each quarter and mainly affecting the past quarters of the same year
Major regular revisions taking place on a regular basis to incorporate results of changes in surveys and/or in estimation procedures, of new basic data sources, integrating the results of new censuses and/or of new estimation methods
Major occasional revisions deriving from major methodological changes in national accounts, like changes in concepts and definitions and/or in the classifications used (examples are the adoption of a new accounting system - like in September 2014 the introduction of ESA2010 - or the use of a new nomenclature).
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data revisions may occur at any time. Major changes in methodology are the result of legislation, and therefore announced in the Official Journal. However, some changes may be implemented beforehand on the basis of gentlemen's agreements.
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data.
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data for specific countries may be published even if they are missing for other countries or flagged as provisional. They are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated. European aggregates are recalculated every time new data is published and are released simultaneously.
Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated.
In routine revisions, the length of the time series revised is country-specific and depends on the relevance of source data updates. .
Within each GFS table, aggregates and components are revised at the same time. Between different GFS tables, the update schedule for routine revisions may differ.
As part of routine revisions, temporal consistency (annual/quarterly) is usually established at coinciding transmission deadlines.
While the revision calendar for government finance statistics is described by the scheduled releases indicated on the Eurostat website, revisions can occur at any time.
The impact of routine and major revisions is analysed prior to data validation and documented in metadata in case of notable changes.
Notable time series breaks caused by changes in data sources or incomplete application of a methodological change are flagged. Major revisions remove such breaks in series as far as feasible. .
Major revisions are documented internally and described in metadata and data releases in broad terms.
Coordinated major revisions are pre-announced, though individual countries may undertake additional major revisions. In addition, before and during implementation, major revisions in national accounts are communicated.
18.1. Source data
The data for compilation of quarterly financial accounts of General Government should be based as much as possible on direct information from basic sources, and shall be completed by coverage adjustments if needed, and by conceptual adjustments in order to bring quarterly data in line with ESA10 concepts.
Most of the quarterly financial accounts data are based on government administrative documents and statistical surveys conducted nationally for compilation of financial accounts.
The quarterly financial accounts are also presented in an annualised form (i.e. in the form of a simple sum of the four quarters of a given year for transactions and as a last quarter of a year for stocks) in table gov_10a_ggfa. This represents a calculation based on the transmitted quarterly data.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Quarterly data. Annualised quarterly data is derived additionally.
Revisions of national data are accepted, processed and disseminated at any time.
18.3. Data collection
Tables, part of the ESA2010 transmission programme completed by national authorities.
Once data are compiled by national authorities in the reporting format, they are transmitted via eDamis to Eurostat.
18.4. Data validation
All QFAGG data should arrive via the Single Entry Point (eDamis) in SDMX/ML format. The verification process consists of arithmetic and quality checks such as:
Verification of internal consistency corresponding to point 4.3.0, 4.3.1, 4.3.2;
Comparison with annual financial accounts, corresponding to point 4.3.3 and following;
Comparison with quarterly debt data, corresponding to point 4.3.3 and following; comparison with quarterly non-financial accounts of general government corresponding to point 4.3.3 and following;
Comparison with EDP data, corresponding to point 4.3.3 and following;.
18.5. Data compilation
Time of recording: In principle, flows are recorded on an accrual basis; that is when economic value is created, transformed or extinguished, or when claims and obligations arise, are transformed or cancelled.
Valuation rules: Financial transactions are recorded at the market value. It is the value in national currency at which the financial assets and/ or liabilities are created, liquidated, exchanged or assumed, on the basis of commercial considerations only. For an explanation of the general valuation rules and detailed valuation rules that apply to some sub-categories of financial transactions, see ESA2010, chapter 5.
National data are converted into ECU (before 1999) or euro using annual average exchange rates.
European aggregates are only compiled if data from all Member States is present.
18.6. Adjustment
Data are not adjusted.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and high energy prices:
Since the first quarter of 2020, Member States have implemented COVID-19 containment measures. In all quarters of 2022 and 2023, the impact of the measures to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had a significantly lower impact than in quarters of 2020 and 2021, however, government revenue and expenditure were impacted by the measures undertaken by most Member States to alleviate the impact of increasing energy prices. In the quarters of 2024, such measures have a much lower impact than in preceding quarters.
More country-specific metadata can also be found in the metadata file for the quarterly non-financial accounts of general government.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION / ACCESSION OF CROATIA TO THE EURO AREA: Up to 31 December 2022, the euro area (EA19) included Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. From 1 January 2023 the euro area (EA20) also includes Croatia. The aggregate data series commented on in these publications refer to the official composition of the euro area in the most recent quarter for which data is available. Thus, news releases and other publications with data for quarters up to the fourth quarter of 2022 commented on EA19 series, while releases with data for the first quarter of 2023 onwards comment on EA20 series. On the Eurostat public database, both EA19 and EA20 are published. Croatian data in million of national currency refers to euro-fixed for periods up to the fourth quarter of 2022, i.e. HRK divided by the irrevocable exchange rate.
DENMARK:The difference between loan liabilities at nominal and face value is being verified by the Danish Statistical Authorities.
GERMANY: From 2018Q1 onwards, the statistical discrepancy between B.9 and B.9f is no longer included in F.8 assets, but rather visible in the difference between B.9 and B.9f. The previous treatment led to a misrepresentation of stocks in AF.8 on the asset side.
The methods for estimating AF.31L at face and market value will be subject to some refinements in the upcoming releases.
IRELAND: In 2014, the sector classification of the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) was reviewed as part of ESA2010 implementation. As it did not meet the institutional unit criteria, it was reclassified from S.1314 to S.1311. Subsequently, as only one other Member State did not present S.1314, Ireland was requested by Eurostat in the 2019 Excessive Deficit Procedure Dialogue Visit to reflect on reporting the SIF in S.1314 in order to harmonise practices with other Member States.
The CSO is in agreement with Eurostat that presenting the S.1314 sub-sector would facilitate harmonisation and comparability with other Member States. With the 2024Q1 quarterly GFS reporting, Ireland has implemented the subsector with the time series now extended back to 1995Q1. This change has no impact on the aggregate data rather S.1311 is reduced by the amounts now shown in S.1314.
GREECE: D.9PAY for 2013Q2 is mainly due to amounts transferred by Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF, classified in S.13), in particular to NBG, Eurobank and Alpha Bank for recapitalisation purposes as well as amounts for the resolution of First Business Bank. D.9PAY for 2012Q3 is mainly due to amounts transferred by Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF, classified in S.13), in particular its transfer to Piraeus Bank (classified in S.12) to cover the funding gap between the assets and liabilities of Agricultural Bank of Greece that were transferred to Piraeus Bank. D.9PAY is due to amounts transferred by HFSF to S.12, in particular for the resolution case of New Post Bank as well as for the share capital increase of New Post Bank. Since October 2015, Eurostat had not published ESA table 27 for Greece. Following the progress in alignment of the data and strong commitment by the Bank of Greece to eliminate all remaining differences, in July 2019 Eurostat has resumed publication of the quarterly financial accounts of general government of Greece. The remaining differences are under investigation and are expected to be resolved with the next transmission rounds.
CROATIA: For the years 1995-2001, there are differences in the recording practice of specific transactions due to missing data. This refers for example to time-adjustment of taxes and social contributions, which are cash, based.
CYPRUS: The net lending / net borrowing for the third quarter of 2018 includes the impact from the restructuring of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank Ltd (CCB) - sale of the good parts of CCB and the subsequent integration of the remaining public financial defeasance structure into general government accounts. The negative revision on public deficit in 2019 and 2020Q1 is due to a methodological adjustment relating to the activities of KEDIPES (Cyprus Asset Management Company). Specifically, the debt to asset swaps resulting from loan settlements are currently recorded as acquisitions of non-financial assets (fixed assets and land) increasing government expenditure. Any future sale of these fixed assets will have a positive impact on net lending / net borrowing.
As part of the 2024 harmonised benchmark revision, the Sewage Disposal Boards are reclassified into the Local Government Subsector (S.1313) from 1995 onwards.
LATVIA: For AF.5 assets there is a break in time series in 1st quarter of 2020 due to the change in the valuation method of equity and inestment fund shares.
MALTA: Following changes in one of main data source, the National Statistics Office experienced issues concerning the statistical discrepancy between the non-financial and financial accounts. High quarterly discrepancies were registered in 2020Q1 and Q2 though on annual basis – for 2020 – these discrepancies have almost outweighed each other. Further examination is necessary and this will lead to revisions in the financial accounts and a reduced discrepancy.
The quarterly financial accounts from 1999Q1 to 2003Q4 were compiled for the first time in September 2020. The data sources covering this period were lacking and thus the data had to be estimated using the financial annual stocks data. For AF.3L and AF.4L, data from the Government’s Comparative Return has been used, while the OEF has been estimated accordingly. The data is to be considered as provisional and revisions are possible in following quarterly publications.
In 2024Q1, a capital injection into KM Malta Airlines Ltd. in the amount of 154.5 million euro took place. In 2024Q3, a further capital injection into KM Malta Airlines Ltd. in the amount of 90 million euro took place. These capital injections are treated as an equity injection (F.51 assets) with no impact on the net lending (+) / net borrowing (-), while in 2024Q4, an investment grant towards KM Malta Airlines is being recorded.
FINLAND: An exceptional revision with some breaks in time series (marked in the public database) was implemented in respect of the rerouting of ARA loans. Information can be found on Statistics Finland website.
The introduction of wellbeing services counties in 2023 brought significant changes to the items of central and local government. This complicates the comparability of general government data between 2022 and 2023.
Exceptional large accrual-based corrections related to Fleet 2000 projects and HX projects from 2023 onwards. The investments will be recorded in the national accounts when they are operational and under the control of the armed forces.
The data correspond to quarterly financial accounts for the general government sector and follows the ESA2010 methodology. The data covers financial transactions and balance sheet items for general government (consolidated and non-consolidated) and its subsectors.
This includes a number of financial instruments (F.1, F.2, F.3, F.4, ...) as well as some balancing items such as net financial transactions, net financial worth and net financial assets and liabilties.
Data are available in million of euro, million of national currency (average exchange rates are used for transactions and end of period exchange rates are used for stocks) and as a percentage of GDP (for transactions quarterly GDP is used; for stocks a rolling sum of the last four quarters is used). For Croatia, which joined the euro area from 1 January 2023, the euro-fixed for periods up to the fourth quarter of 2022 is used, i.e. HRK divided by the irrevocable exchange rate.
In the table gov_10a_ggfa, annualised quarterly financial accounts for general government are presented. For financial transactions, data is summed over the four quarters of each year. For the conversion from national currency into euro, the yearly average exchange rate is used. For balance sheet items (stocks), the annualised data corresponds to the data of the fourth quarter. The percentage of GDP data of annualised data uses annual GDP transmitted by the Member States. In the course of the annualisation, small rounding differences may be amplified.
The data correspond to quarterly financial accounts for the general government sector which are conceptually consistent with the corresponding annual data compiled on a national accounts (ESA2010) basis.
Quarterly financial accounts for general government include data on financial transactions and balance sheet items for general government (consolidated and non-consolidated) and its subsectors.
The primary classification of financial instruments comprises: monetary gold and special drawing rights (AF.1), currency and deposits (AF.2) with sub-category currency (AF.21), debt securities (AF.3) with a breakdown into short-term (AF.31) and long-term (AF.32) debt securities, loans (AF.4) with a breakdown into short-term loans (AF.41) and long-term loans (AF.42), equity and investment fund shares or units (AF.5) with a breakdown into equity (AF.51) and investment fund shares or units (AF.52), insurance, pension and standardised guarantees schemes (AF.6) with a breakdown into non-life insurance technical reserves (AF.61), pension entitlements, claims of pension funds on pension managers and entitlements to non-pension benefits (AF.63_AF.64_AF.65), provisions for calls under standardised guarantees (AF.66), financial derivatives and employee stock options (AF.7) and other accounts receivable/payable (AF.8).
The sector general government is divided into the following subsectors: central government (S.1311), state government (S.1312), local government (S.1313), social security funds (S.1314).
The financial instruments, sectors and subsectors to be transmitted on a compulsory basis can be found in the ESA2010 Transmission Programme in Annex B of the Regulation (EU) N° 549/2013 of 21 May 2013. For definitions of financial transactions and instruments, see ESA2010 chapter 5. For definitions of institutional sectors and subsectors, see ESA2010 chapter 2.
Institutional units and groupings of units as defined in ESA2010.
The institutional units included in the general government sector (S.13) according to ESA2010 (paragraph 2.112) are the following:
(a) general government units which exist through a legal process to have judicial authority over other units in the economic territory, and administer and finance a group of activities, principally providing non-market goods and services, intended for the benefit of the community;
(b) a corporation or quasi-corporation which is a government unit, if its output is mainly non-market and a government unit controls it;
(c) non-profit institutions recognised as independent legal entities which are non-market producers and which are controlled by general government;
(d) autonomous pension funds, where there is a legal obligation to contribute, and where general government manages the funds with respect to the settlement and approval of contributions and benefits.
Target population is the general government sector.
EU and euro area aggregates, EU Member States and Norway.
Quarterly data. Annualised quarterly data is calculated additionally.
Most Member States conduct consistency as well as plausibility checks as part of their compilation routines. Consistency checks are made with EDP Table 3, with annual financial accounts, or on consolidation. Plausibility checks are made on the discrepancy with the capital account, the growth rates of stocks and other economic flows.
Member States monitor and report to Eurostat major events that underpin large transactions or large other economic flows (for other economic flows see § 5.3.).
Data are available in million of Euro, in million of national currency and as a percentage of GDP.
For euro area countries, for reference periods prior to accession of the country to the euro area, data in national currency are expressed in euro-fixed, that is the former national currency divided by the irrevocable exchange rate.
Time of recording: In principle, flows are recorded on an accrual basis; that is when economic value is created, transformed or extinguished, or when claims and obligations arise, are transformed or cancelled.
Valuation rules: Financial transactions are recorded at the market value. It is the value in national currency at which the financial assets and/ or liabilities are created, liquidated, exchanged or assumed, on the basis of commercial considerations only. For an explanation of the general valuation rules and detailed valuation rules that apply to some sub-categories of financial transactions, see ESA2010, chapter 5.
National data are converted into ECU (before 1999) or euro using annual average exchange rates.
European aggregates are only compiled if data from all Member States is present.
The data for compilation of quarterly financial accounts of General Government should be based as much as possible on direct information from basic sources, and shall be completed by coverage adjustments if needed, and by conceptual adjustments in order to bring quarterly data in line with ESA10 concepts.
Most of the quarterly financial accounts data are based on government administrative documents and statistical surveys conducted nationally for compilation of financial accounts.
The quarterly financial accounts are also presented in an annualised form (i.e. in the form of a simple sum of the four quarters of a given year for transactions and as a last quarter of a year for stocks) in table gov_10a_ggfa. This represents a calculation based on the transmitted quarterly data.
Quarterly.
Under Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, data are transmitted from Member States to Eurostat three months after the end of the quarter to which the data refer to, at the latest. The deadline for transmission of provisional data is 85 days after the end of the reference quarter for Member States whose currency is the euro. Thereafter, data are validated before publication.
