Glossary:Central government
Central government consists of all administrative departments of the state and other central agencies whose responsibilities cover the whole economic territory of a country, except for the administration of social security funds.
According to the definition in ESA 2010, paragraph 20.57: 'The central government (excluding social security) subsector (S.1311) consists of all government units having a national sphere of competence, with the exception of social security units. The political authority of a country’s central government extends over the entire territory of the country. The central government can impose taxes on all resident institutional units and on non-resident units engaged in economic activities within the country. Central government typically is responsible for providing collective services for the benefit of the community as a whole, such as national defence, relations with other countries, public order and safety, and for regulating the social and economic system of the country. In addition, it may incur expenditure on the provision of services, such as education or health, primarily for the benefit of individual households, and it may make transfers to other institutional units, including other levels of government.'
Further information
- General government expenditure by function (COFOG) (ESMS metadata file — gov_10a_exp_esms)
- Government deficit and debt (ESMS metadata file — gov_10dd_esms)
- Government revenue, expenditure and main aggregates (ESMS metadata file — gov_10a_main_esms)
- Quarterly financial accounts for general government (ESMS metadata file — gov_10q_ggfa_esms)
- Quarterly government debt (ESMS metadata file — gov_10q_ggdebt_esms)
- Quarterly non-financial accounts for general government (ESMS metadata file — gov_10q_ggnfa_esms)
- Structure of government debt (ESMS metadata file — gov_10dd_sgd_esms)