## _cr03207 ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [_cr03207](https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2003/_cr03207.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2003/_cr03207.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2003/_cr03207.pdf.json) --- ### SDDS observance and dissemination practices - Norway subscribed to the SDDS on June 18, 1996 and started posting metadata on the DSBB on September 19, 1996. - Norway is in observance of the SDDS, meeting the specifications for coverage, periodicity, and timeliness for all data categories, with two flexibility options used: - Timeliness of data on general government operations uses a flexibility option. - Periodicity and timeliness of data on central government operations use a flexibility option. - Key postings: - Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity hyperlinked to the DSBB on June 7, 2000. - National Summary Data Page hyperlinked to the DSBB on June 9, 2000. - Agencies responsible (selected): - Statistics Norway (SSB): national accounts, production index, labor market, price indices, general government operations, central government operations, balance of payments, international investment position, merchandise trade, population, and SDDS National Summary Data Page. - Norges Bank: analytical accounts of the banking sector, analytical accounts of the central bank, interest rates, data template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity, exchange rates. - Ministry of Finance (MOF), in collaboration with SSB: central government debt. - Oslo Exchange: share price index. - Access and release practices: - Advance release calendars are disseminated on SSB, Norges Bank, and MOF websites and supplemented by quarter-ahead release dates on the DSBB. - Data are released simultaneously to all interested parties, generally via agency websites and Norway’s National Summary Data Page (http://www.ssb.no/en/indicators/dsbb/). - Internal pre-release access generally none, except: - Senior advisers in the MOF receive prior access to general government data approximately one week before public release. - For analytical accounts of the banking sector, pre-access to some monetary and credit statistics is given to Norges Bank’s Governor and Deputy Governor and certain senior Bank staff half an hour before release. - MOF is informed of changes in Norges Bank’s lending and deposit rates before public release. - Data released by agencies are generally not accompanied by ministerial commentary, except the Minister of Finance may comment on annual central government accounts. ### Coverage, periodicity, and timeliness — selected statistics and exact timings - National accounts: - Periodicity: Q; SDDS timeliness: 1Q; Norway timeliness: 5-9W. - Timeliness of provisional data: 9 weeks after the end of the reference quarter for Q1, Q2, and Q3; 5 weeks after the end of the reference quarter for Q4 (the first annual estimates). - Production Index/indices: - Periodicity: M; SDDS timeliness: 6W (M encouraged); Norway: 5-6W. - Consumer price index: - Periodicity: M; SDDS timeliness: 1M; Norway timeliness: Within 10 days. - Producer price index: - Periodicity: M; SDDS timeliness: 1M; Norway timeliness: Within 10 days. - General government operations: - Periodicity: A; SDDS timeliness: 2Q; Norway timeliness: 10M. - Timeliness of revenue, expenditure, and balance: 4 months after the end of the fiscal year. - Timeliness of financing data: 10 months after the end of the fiscal year. - Central government operations: - Periodicity: SDDS: M; Norway: Q; SDDS timeliness: 1M; Norway timeliness: 2-4M. - Timeliness about 2 months after end of reference quarter for Q1, Q2, Q3; 4 months after end of reference quarter for Q4. - Central government debt: - Periodicity: Q; SDDS timeliness: 1Q; Norway timeliness: 40 days. - Analytical accounts of the central bank: - Periodicity: M (W recommended); SDDS timeliness: 2W (W encouraged); Norway timeliness: 2W. - Balance sheet: 2 weeks after end of reference month for all months except December and January. December data released in mid-February; January data released one week later. Monetary base (M0): 1 month after the reference month. - Balance of payments: - Periodicity: SDDS: Q; Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 1Q; Norway timeliness: 8-9W. - International reserves (reserves template): - Norway timeliness entries include 1W, 1M, 5D, and 21D depending on the item. - Merchandise trade: - Periodicity: M; SDDS timeliness: 8W (4-6W encouraged); Norway timeliness: 2W. - Frequency notation: D daily; W weekly or with a lag of no more than one week; M monthly or with a lag of no more than one month; Q quarterly or with a lag of no more than one quarter; A annually. ### Monitoring of dissemination practices - IMF monitoring of SDDS performance began in July 2000 (Executive Board’s Third Review of the SDDS). - Monitoring verifies release dates in advance release calendars and that disseminated data correspond to DSBB metadata. - Norway’s dissemination practices have generally been in observance of the SDDS. - Notable exceptions: timeliness of updating the National Summary Data Page for central government debt and analytical accounts of the central bank. ### Key assessment conclusions (DQAF-based) - Framework: Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) covering integrity, methodological soundness, accuracy and reliability, serviceability, accessibility, and prerequisites. - Overall conclusion: Norway’s macroeconomic statistics are of generally high quality and adequate to conduct effective surveillance. - Identified shortcomings: - Deficiencies in the scope, periodicity, and timeliness of government finance statistics. - Evolving weaknesses in source data for balance of payments statistics (notably high and volatile net errors and omissions). - Ongoing and proposed initiatives: - Projects to upgrade data sources for government finance and balance of payments statistics. - Quality improvement project proposed for quarterly national accounts. ### Prerequisites of quality — institutional and resource highlights - Legal framework: - Statistics Act of June 16, 1989, No. 54 gives SSB professional autonomy; SSB administratively under the Ministry of Finance. - Resources: - SSB staff about 850 (500 in Oslo, 350 in Kongsvinger). - National Accounts Division staffing: 25–28 staff members. - Allocation of staff years to national accounts (including 2002 Data Revision): Central annual accounting framework* 11; Institutional sector accounts* 6; Quarterly accounts 4; Labour accounts 2; Regional accounts 1; Satellite accounts 2; Balance of payments 2; General administration 1. (*Including 2002 Data Revision.) - Quality management: - “Systematic quality work” inspired by Total Quality Management; quality pilots trained; quality improvement projects (e.g., QNA quality improvement project started early 2003). - Confidentiality and reporting: - Sections 2-4 and 2-6 of the Statistics Act prohibit publishing data that identify individuals or firms; mandatory reporting and penalties provided in Sections 2-2 and 2-3. - Approximately 7,000 cases annually across SSB where respondents are fined for non-compliance. ### Integrity and transparency - Agencies demonstrate professionalism, transparency, and ethical guidelines; documented assurances of professionalism and impartiality exist. - Internal pre-release access practices are publicly identified on DSBB; no government access to national accounts prior to release; limited internal SSB pre-release participation in approvals. ### Methodological soundness — dataset-specific notes - National accounts: - Concepts follow the 1993 SNA and 1995 ESA; integrated supply and use and input-output tables; double deflation (Laspeyres chain indices) applied; comprehensive annual and quarterly compilation systems used (SNA-NT software). - Weakness: limited statistics on inventories; changes in inventories largely determined residually. - CPI: - Concepts consistent with 1995 ESA; COICOP classification; market basket includes 911 representative goods and services; weights from HBS using moving average of 1999, 2000, and 2001 HBSs. - HBS: continuous, two-stage stratified random sample; sample about 2,200 outlets/households; monthly price survey collects about 45,000 prices on the 15th; separate rent survey of 1,300 housing units. - Non-response issue: HBS non-response high (45 percent in 1998; about 50 percent in some descriptions). - PPI/VPPI: - VPPI reference period 2000=100 back to January 1995; VPPI price survey: about 900 establishments reporting about 6,000 transaction prices on the 15th of the month. - Geometric means used for elementary indices; annual chaining; weights derived from national accounts, PRODCOM, and external trade data. - Government Finance Statistics (GFS): - Concepts consistent with general government in 1993 SNA and 1995 ESA; not yet fully adopted GFSM 2001. - Annual GFS scope for general government complete; sub-annual central government scope partial (extrabudgetary units excluded). - Administrative systems do not provide adequate data on financing transactions. - MOF decided to provide SSB with monthly revenue, expenditure, and financing data on the budgetary central government within three-four weeks from the end of the reference month, starting in 2003. - Monetary statistics: - Since November 2000, Norges Bank disseminates monetary statistics broadly conforming to the MFSM; deviations noted in classification of repos, valuation of gold (previously at 20 percent below market prices until written up in 2002), and loans adjusted for expected loan loss provisions. - Balance of payments: - Core based on ITRS (settlements-based); source data problems: high and volatile net errors and omissions (annual average minus 2.7 percent of GDP for 1992–2001; average absolute value 2.7 percent). - Decision to discontinue the ITRS at end of 2004 and introduce a new reporting system by the beginning of 2005. ### Accuracy and reliability — summary of main technical issues - National accounts: - Source data generally sound; enterprise surveys high response; household budget survey suffers high non-response; quarterly accounts need improved short-term statistics on wages and some services; inventories data inadequate. - Revisions: major revision studies undertaken for 1995 and 2002 Data Revisions; systematic routine revision studies not currently in place. - CPI and PPI: - Price surveys subject to computerized editing, imputations, quality adjustments; PPI revision policy could be clearer; PPI staff plan to strengthen resources and clarify revision policy. - GFS: - Source data mainly administrative records; financing transactions not adequately covered; statistics on extrabudgetary units incomplete historically but improvements underway; reconciliation between stocks and flows weak. - Monetary statistics: - Source data comprehensive and timely; valuation and recording practices partly reflect Norwegian accounting conventions; internal work to align closer to MFSM (e.g., treatment of loans, accrued interest, gold). - Balance of payments: - High net errors and omissions; ITRS suitability declining; new data collection system planned with proposed features including integration of BOP and IIP, pilot testing, and revision studies. ### Serviceability — timeliness, periodicity, revisions, and user engagement - Timeliness and periodicity: - CPI: published about the 10th of the month (better than SDDS); periodicity monthly. - National accounts: QNA timeliness published with a timeliness of five weeks for Q1 and nine weeks for Q1, Q2, Q3; from 2003 onwards Q4 published with timeliness about 10 weeks; periodicity quarterly. - VPPI: published about the 10th of the month; periodicity monthly. - GFS: monthly central government operations data generally not produced (except some principal tax revenue items available 6 weeks after the reference month); quarterly budgetary central government data available within two months (do not meet SDDS monthly requirement for CGO); annual general government data on revenue, expenditure, and net lending/borrowing available within 4 months; financial assets and liabilities available within 10 months. - Monetary: analytical accounts of Norges Bank disseminated within 2 weeks (except December and January); analytical accounts of the banking sector disseminated within 1 month. - Balance of payments: periodicity monthly, timeliness about 8-9W, generally better than SDDS requirements for the categories where Norway exceeds them. - Revision policy and practice: - Most datasets follow international good practices by providing revision schedules and identifying provisional estimates; need for more routine revision studies in several datasets. - CPI: revision policy known to users; PPI: revision policy less transparent and recommended to adopt CPI-like practices. - National accounts: revision cycle predetermined and published but recommendation to make revision schedules and practices more transparent to the public. - User engagement: - Advisory committees exist for various datasets; recommendation to regularize contact with users beyond official committees and consider periodic user surveys. - Users’ survey (October 2002): questionnaire sent to 71 users; 35 responses received (49 percent). Overall quality ratings (scale 1–5): National accounts 3.8; PPI 3.8; CPI 4.1; GFS 3.8; Monetary 4.2; BOP 4.2. ### Accessibility — dissemination and metadata - Data accessibility: - SSB website primary dissemination channel; press releases at 10.00 a.m. on release days; Statistikbanken being developed; advance release calendar updated on SSB website. - Norges Bank disseminates via its Internet website; advance release calendar maintained; data released to all users simultaneously. - Metadata accessibility: - Summary methodology statements provided on DSBB and agency websites; more detailed technical documentation available in SSB Documents and Reports and in agency publications, though some detailed method docs need updating and better web presence. - Recommendation: include detailed hardcopy publications on balance of payments sources and methods on the website. - Assistance to users: - Contact persons identified in releases and websites; requests for nonpublished subaggregates considered and often provided (subject to criteria and possible fees). ### Mission, scope, and dates - Assessment covers national accounts, CPI, PPI, government finance, monetary, and balance of payments statistics. - Agencies assessed: Statistics Norway (SSB), Norges Bank, and the Ministry of Finance (MOF). - The assessment was carried out by an IMF Statistics Department mission that visited Oslo during November 11–26, 2002. ### Staff recommendations — prioritized actions (selected, verbatim policy recommendations) - Cross-cutting (Priority) - Ensure that the National Summary Data Page for the DSBB is updated on a timely basis in all data categories. - Cross-cutting (Fine tuning) - Regularize contact with users other than those on official committees and in government to learn more about their user needs; consider periodic user surveys. - Investigate the reasons for the nonresponse by many households in the HBS and consider steps to improve response rates. - National Accounts (Priority) - Implement the planned quality improvement project for quarterly national accounts. - Promote better public understanding of revisions by developing and publishing studies on current revisions. - Producer Price Index (Priority) - Strengthen staff resources for analysis and research activities, such as by adding an additional staff person to the unit that compiles the producer price index. - Clarify revision policy, perhaps by adding a clear statement in the press release that the data are subject to revision. - Consider a revision policy in which revisions are limited to once per year at the time of the annual weight update. - Government Finance Statistics (Priority) - Collect timely and comprehensive data from all central government units, including extrabudgetary agencies. - Regularly disseminate GFS in a presentation that fully integrates revenue, expenditure, and financial transactions. - Strengthen staff resources to meet present and future tasks. - Monetary Statistics (Priority) - Adopt the guidelines of the MFSM on the basis of recording of: - (1) loans that are presently adjusted for expected loan loss provisions; - (2) accrued interest that is presently reported separate from the underlying instruments; and - (3) gold, which is presently valued at a fixed discount below market prices. - Balance of Payments Statistics (Priority) - The mission concurs with the authorities’ decision to adopt new collection arrangements. *Source: _cr03207 - Executive Summary; Detailed Assessments Using the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF); Response by the Norwegian authorities (mission November 11–26, 2002). * ### Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... ### _cr03207 - Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... ### SDDS observance and dissemination practices - Norway subscribed to the SDDS on June 18, 1996 and started posting metadata on the DSBB on September 19, 1996. - Norway is in observance of the SDDS, meeting the specifications for coverage, periodicity, and timeliness for all data categories, with two exceptions where flexibility options are used: - Timeliness of data on general government operations uses a flexibility option. - Periodicity and timeliness of data on central government operations use a flexibility option. - Key dates and postings: - Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity hyperlinked to the DSBB on June 7, 2000. - National Summary Data Page hyperlinked to the DSBB on June 9, 2000. - Agencies responsible: - Statistics Norway (SSB): national accounts, production index, labor market, price indices, general government operations, central government operations, balance of payments, international investment position, merchandise trade, population, and SDDS National Summary Data Page. - Norges Bank: analytical accounts of the banking sector, analytical accounts of the central bank, interest rates, data template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity, exchange rates. - Ministry of Finance (MOF), in collaboration with SSB: central government debt. - Oslo Exchange: share price index. - Access and release practices: - Advance release calendars meeting SDDS requirements are disseminated on SSB, Norges Bank, and MOF websites and supplemented by quarter-ahead release dates on the DSBB. - Data are released simultaneously to all interested parties, generally via agency websites and Norway’s National Summary Data Page (http://www.ssb.no/en/indicators/dsbb/). - Internal pre-release access: generally none, except: - Senior advisers in the MOF receive prior access to general government data approximately one week before public release. - For analytical accounts of the banking sector, pre-access to some monetary and credit statistics is given to Norges Bank’s Governor and Deputy Governor and certain senior Bank staff half an hour before release. - MOF is informed of changes in Norges Bank’s lending and deposit rates before public release. - Data released by agencies are generally not accompanied by ministerial commentary, except the Minister of Finance may comment on annual central government accounts. ### Coverage, periodicity, and timeliness — summary (selected entries from Table 1) - National accounts: Coverage meets SDDS; Periodicity SDDS: Q; Norway: Q; SDDS timeliness: 1Q; Norway timeliness: 5-9W. Comment: Timeliness exceeds SDDS requirements. Timeliness of provisional data is 9 weeks after the end of reference quarter for Q1, Q2, and Q3 data and 5 weeks after the end of reference quarter for Q4 data (the first annual estimates). - Production Index/indices: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: M; Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 6W (M encouraged); Norway: 5-6W. - Consumer price index: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: M; Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 1M; Norway timeliness: Within 10 days. Timeliness exceeds SDDS requirements. - Producer price index: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: M; Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 1M; Norway timeliness: Within 10 days. Timeliness exceeds SDDS requirements. - General government operations: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: A; Norway: A; SDDS timeliness: 2Q; Norway: 10M. Timeliness of revenue, expenditure, and balance is 4 months after the end of the fiscal year. Timeliness of data on financing is 10 months after the end of the fiscal year. Flexibility option utilized for the timeliness of the data. - Central government operations: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: M; Norway: Q; SDDS timeliness: 1M; Norway: 2-4M. Timeliness is about 2 months after the end of the reference quarter for Q1, Q2, and Q3 data and 4 months after the end of the reference quarter for Q4 data. Flexibility option utilized for the periodicity and timeliness of the data. - Central government debt: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: Q; Norway: Q; SDDS timeliness: 1Q; Norway timeliness: 40 days. Timeliness exceeds SDDS requirements. - Analytical accounts of the central bank: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: M (W recommended); Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 2W (W encouraged); Norway timeliness: 2W. Balance sheet: 2 weeks after the end of the reference month for all months except December and January. December data released in mid-February; January data released one week later. Monetary base (M0): 1 month after the reference month. - Balance of payments: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: Q; Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 1Q; Norway timeliness: 8-9W. Periodicity and timeliness exceed SDDS requirements. - International reserves (reserves template): Norway timeliness entries include 1W, 1M, 5D, and 21D depending on the item. Timeliness exceeds SDDS requirements. - Merchandise trade: Coverage Yes; Periodicity SDDS: M; Norway: M; SDDS timeliness: 8W (4-6W encouraged); Norway timeliness: 2W. Timeliness exceeds SDDS requirements. - Note on frequency notation in Table 1: D daily; W weekly or with a lag of no more than one week; M monthly or with a lag of no more than one month; Q quarterly or with a lag of no more than one quarter; A annually. ### Monitoring of dissemination practices - IMF monitoring of SDDS performance began in July 2000 in accordance with the Executive Board’s Third Review of the SDDS. - Monitoring verifies release dates in advance release calendars and that disseminated data correspond to DSBB metadata. - Norway’s dissemination practices have generally been in observance of the SDDS. - Notable exceptions in timeliness of updating the National Summary Data Page pertain to data on central government debt and the analytical accounts of the central bank. ### Prerequisites of quality - Norwegian statistical agencies demonstrate awareness of quality as a cornerstone of statistical work. - SSB and Norges Bank have distinctive features in human resource management and statistical practices that contribute to cultures of shared perceptions of quality. - Legal and institutional frameworks support statistical quality and there is a high degree of coordination of national statistics. - Resource observations: - Additional staff resources would be useful for producer price and government finance statistics. - In other datasets, resources are commensurate with existing statistical programs. ### Integrity - Agencies demonstrate professionalism, transparency in practices and policies, and provide guidelines on ethical conduct for staff. - Each agency has well-documented assurances of professionalism and impartiality. ### Methodological soundness - Norwegian macroeconomic statistics generally follow internationally accepted guidelines on definitions, scope, classification and sectorization. - Areas for methodological improvement: - Recording basis for transactions in the monetary statistics could come closer in some respects to international guidance. - Scope of government finance statistics could come closer in some respects to international guidance. - Summary methodology statements for all data categories have been provided to the IMF and posted on the DSBB, although some are in need of updating. The mission found methodological information could be improved for the fiscal sector. ### Accuracy and reliability - High marks for accuracy and reliability: national accounts, consumer and producer price indices, and monetary statistics. - Source data issues: - Government finance statistics: source data could be made more complete and timely. - Balance of payments statistics: source data have been affected by economic changes and are under review. - Assessment and validation techniques: good use is made of these techniques, but more use could be made of studies of revisions in several datasets to identify improvements. ### Serviceability - Norwegian macroeconomic statistics are, by and large, relevant, consistent, and available on a timely basis with good frequency. - Exceptions: some government finance statistics are deficient in periodicity and timeliness. - Revision policy: - Most datasets follow international good practices by providing a clear statement of the revision schedule and identifying provisional estimates. - Producer price index: information about revision practices could be more transparent. ### Accessibility - All datasets are readily available to the public and accompanied by documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques. - Some documentation is brief; service to users could be enhanced by better information on links between different presentations of data on central government operations. ### Mission and report scope - The assessment covers national accounts, consumer price index, producer price index, government finance, monetary, and balance of payments statistics. - Agencies assessed: Statistics Norway (SSB), Norges Bank, and the Ministry of Finance (MOF). - The assessment was carried out by an IMF Statistics Department mission that visited Oslo during November 11–26, 2002. *Executive Summary, ROSC data module on Norway (mission November 11–26, 2002).* ### 14. An assessment of six macroeconomic datasets—national accounts, consumer price ### 14. An assessment of six macroeconomic datasets—national accounts, consumer price index, producer price index, government finance, monetary, and balance of payments statistics—was conducted using the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) ### Summary findings - The assessment used the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF), comprising a generic framework and dataset-specific frameworks covering five dimensions of data quality—integrity, methodological soundness, accuracy and reliability, serviceability, and accessibility—and a set of prerequisites. - Norway’s membership in the European Statistical System shapes official statistics and statistical policy, with substantial data produced consistent with legal requirements of the system and active Norwegian participation in working groups and committees. - Overall conclusion: Norway’s macroeconomic statistics are of generally high quality and adequate to conduct effective surveillance. - Identified shortcomings: - Deficiencies in the scope, periodicity, and timeliness of government finance statistics. - Evolving weaknesses in the source data for balance of payments statistics. - Ongoing and proposed initiatives: - Projects underway to upgrade data sources for government finance and balance of payments statistics. - A proposal to conduct a quality improvement project for the quarterly national accounts, despite broad conformity with international best practice. - Norway’s statistical managers demonstrate high quality awareness. ### Prerequisites of quality (institutional environment, resources, quality awareness) - Statistics Norway (SSB) responsibilities: - Compiles national accounts, consumer price index, producer price index, government finance statistics (GFS), and balance of payments statistics (the latter two in cooperation with other agencies). - Operates under the Statistics Act of 16 June 1989, No. 54 and associated regulations, reflecting a strongly centralized statistical system that coordinates official statistics and provides for confidentiality, mandatory reporting, and consideration of user needs and response burden. - SSB institutional features and resources: - Maintains its own research function, supporting user focus, conceptual issues, and professionalism. - Resources are generally commensurate with the work program, except a need for additional staff for the producer price index and especially government finance statistics. - Future changes in balance of payments data sources may increase staff requirements for coordination and quality control. - Quality management at SSB: - Implemented process controls, a system of quality indicators, training, and quality pilots within a framework of “systematic quality work,” inspired by Total Quality Management principles. - Quality work is spreading through the organization; awareness of trade-offs in collection, processing, and dissemination is evident. - Norges Bank responsibilities and arrangements: - Compiles monetary statistics, runs the international transactions recording system (ITRS), compiles international reserves data, and cooperates with SSB on financial accounts statistics. - Responsibility for monetary statistics arises from a web of laws, formal and informal cooperation among statistical and financial agencies; legal and institutional arrangements support effective coordination and do not create inappropriate influence. - Authority to request information derives mainly from the 1956 Financial Supervision Act and the 1994 agreement between SSB and Norges Bank, and with the Banking, Insurance, and Securities Commission (BISC). - These three agencies share a joint database maintained by Norges Bank for statistical compilation, analysis, and supervision; Norges Bank does not disclose data on individual institutions or transactions. - Statistical reporting is mandated by the 1956 Act, which includes provisions for noncompliance. - Norges Bank resources and quality awareness: - Staff resources are adequate for monetary and financial statistical programs; planned exchange by 2005 of certain balance of payments and other statistical tasks with SSB intends to streamline the work program. - The Statistics Department’s Action Plan emphasizes trade-offs within quality. - Staff quality awareness is reflected in departmental working papers and an internal training program guiding new staff on standards and codes. ### Integrity (professionalism, transparency, ethical standards) - Statistics Norway: - High degree of professionalism: research leadership, statistical innovation, early adoption of international standards, and active regional and international participation. - Choices of sources and techniques are based on statistical considerations and international standards, though priorities are influenced by EEA requirements. - Statistics compiled impartially under the Statistics Act; SSB has a high reputation and can comment on misuse of statistics. - High transparency in statistical policies and practices (e.g., SSB publication Strategy 2002); SSB gives advance notice of changes in sources and methods. - Guidelines on ethical standards for staff are in place and communicated via contracts, internal website, and internal courses. - Norges Bank: - Staff professionalism is reflected in impartial compilation of statistics and contributions to national and international research. - Internal rule grants Statistics Department staff independence from intervention by the rest of Norges Bank; choices of sources and methods balance consistency with national accounts and financial stability indicator needs. - Statistics reflect transparency regarding terms and conditions for statistical work and release procedures. - Managers provide guidance on ethical standards defined in the staff handbook Ethical Rules of Norges Bank. ### Methodological soundness (application of international standards) - National accounts: - Concepts and definitions follow the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA) and the 1995 European System of Accounts (1995 ESA); transition implemented as early as 1995. - Scope is very broad: detailed annual supply and use tables, symmetric input-output tables integrated in current and previous year prices (chain indices), capital stock data, regional accounts by county, and satellite accounts for tourism and the environment. - Distinction made between “Mainland-Norway” and “Petroleum activities and ocean transport.” - Production based on kind-of-activity units; classification/sectorization and basis for recording conform with most recent international recommendations. - Consumer Price Index (CPI): - Concepts, definitions, and basis of recording consistent with the 1995 ESA. - Scope covers expenditures of all resident households including consumption of household production but excluding illegal sales. - Classification according to COICOP. - Market basket includes 911 representative goods and services; weights derived from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) using a moving average of the 1999, 2000, and 2001 HBSs. - Producer Price Index (PPI): - Concepts, definitions, and basis of recording consistent with the 1995 ESA and EU regulations on Short-Term Statistics. - Scope covers all resident market enterprises in industrial sectors; excludes services and illegal sales. - Classification of establishments follows NACE, Rev. 1. - Classification of products based on a combination of Norway’s adaptation of CPA and the Harmonized System (HS). - Government Finance Statistics (GFS): - Concepts and definitions consistent with the general government sector in the 1993 SNA and the 1995 ESA. - Not presented in a comprehensive and fully integrated fiscal analytical framework; plans to fully adopt GFSM 2001 have not been developed or documented. - Annual GFS scope for general government sector is complete; sub-annual central government scope is partial (extrabudgetary units excluded). - Financing transactions are not fully covered; stock and flow recording broadly consistent with international standards but not all stock categories regularly revalued. - Budgetary central and local government securities and foreign-currency denominated financial assets and liabilities are revalued regularly; for the Government Petroleum Fund, all financial assets are regularly revalued. - New version of COFOG recently implemented. - Monetary statistics: - Since November 2000, Norges Bank disseminates monetary statistics broadly conforming to the Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual (MFSM). - Scope consistent with MFSM; classification of instruments and sectorization based on the 1993 SNA and consistent with MFSM, except for the classification of repurchase agreements (repos) of Norges Bank. - Basis for recording flows and stocks partly follows international standards and partly Norwegian accounting practices. - Loans are reported both adjusted and unadjusted for expected loan loss provisions; disseminated credit aggregates and sectoral balance sheets are those adjusted for expected loss provisions. - Interest payable and receivable recorded on an accrual basis; interest not allocated to each separate instrument in balance sheets but recorded as a sum of accrued interest included in other assets and liabilities (apart from securities). - Gold priced at a fixed margin of 20 percent below market prices (practice following guidance accepted for IMF’s International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity data template). - Balance of payments: - Largely follow international concepts and definitions; noted exceptions are adjusted where possible for international reporting. - Scope and classification accord with standards, though monthly releases include limited detail. - Basis for recording approximates accruals with some differences due to source data (e.g., payments basis for interest, customs clearance basis for merchandise trade). ### Accuracy and reliability (source data, statistical techniques, validation, revisions) - National accounts source data and compilation: - Source data for annual and quarterly national accounts are generally sound and timely, based on a mixture of register data and statistical surveys. - Enterprise surveys have a very high response rate. - Structural Business Statistics results were fully introduced during the 2002 Data Revision, improving data on construction and service industries. - Annual accounts could benefit from more frequent surveys on cost structure in manufacturing. - Household Budget Survey (HBS) suffers from high non-response from households. - Quarterly accounts need improved or new short-term statistics on wages (compensation of employees currently not included), some services, and local government. - Limited statistics on inventories exist and are not systematically used; changes in inventories are mainly determined as residuals (identified as a weakness). - Explicit adjustments are made for the non-observed economy. - Statistical techniques and compilation: - Techniques conform to sound statistical practices. - Compilation processes are highly computerized for both annual and quarterly accounts. - Annual calculations use the commodity flow method at a very detailed level; quarterly calculations are more aggregated. - Constant price calculations use the double deflation method (Laspeyres chain indices) at detailed levels. - All parts of the annual accounts, including institutional sector accounts down to the capital account, are compiled in one integrated system; there is no statistical discrepancy. - Assessment and validation of source and intermediate data are integral to national accounts work, including feedback to producers of primary data. - Revisions and validation practices: - Revision studies are conducted for major revisions. - Because of changes in backward series caused by two major revisions, systematic studies of current revisions to the accounts are not made at present. *Source: IMF staff assessment using the Data Quality Assessment Framework as presented in the chapter content provided.* ### 30. The weights and prices source data ### 30. The weights and prices source data ### Source data: consumer price index - Weights and prices source data for the consumer price index are obtained from comprehensive surveys. - A continuous HBS enables calculation of an annual chain index. - The HBS is based on a two-stage stratified random sample and provides the current consumer basket and weights (1999, 2000, and 2001). - The monthly price survey collects data from 2,200 outlets on the 15th of the month and provides about 45,000 prices. - A separate survey of 1,300 housing units collects rent data. - Statistical techniques used: advanced editing, imputing missing prices, quality adjustments, and calculating indices. - Assessment and validation: - HBS: could be improved to deal with the high non-response by households. - Price surveys: assessment and validation are sound. - Revision studies are conducted as part of the annual weight update. ### Source data: producer price index - Products and weights are obtained from the national accounts, from the PRODCOM survey, and from external trade data on exports, enabling calculation of an annual chain index. - Price source data are obtained from a comprehensive monthly survey of about 900 establishments that report 6,000 transaction prices on the 15th of the month. - Statistical techniques: well advanced for editing, imputing prices, quality adjustments, and calculating indices. - Assessment and validation of the price survey are sound. - Revision studies are conducted as part of the annual weight update. ### Source data: government finance statistics (GFS) - Source data are mainly obtained by SSB from administrative records maintained by the MOF and by local governments; data on extrabudgetary units are obtained through accounting records of each unit. - Administrative systems do not provide adequate data on financing transactions. - Norges Bank produces financial transaction data based on stock data compiled by SSB and disseminates them on its website. - Data on the budgetary central government are only available seven times a year from the MOF, apart from some tax revenue items that are available monthly. - The MOF has recently decided to provide SSB with monthly revenue, expenditure, and financing data on the budgetary central government within three-four weeks from the end of the reference month, starting in 2003. The MOF may require additional staff resources for this work. - Statistical techniques are sound. Assessment and validation of source and intermediate data are routinely made. - Quality controls are conducted prior to data release, both within and between datasets. - Data are continuously updated and corrected; statistical discrepancies outside expected ranges are investigated and reconciliation exercises are performed. - Revision studies are undertaken for major revisions but not on a routine basis. ### Source data: monetary statistics - Derived from comprehensive accounting records of Norges Bank and other depository corporations. - Complete coverage of other financial corporations through the coordinated collection system of the BISC, Norges Bank, and SSB. - Monetary data capture full range of financial instruments and economic sectors; contain sufficient detail for classification of all financial instruments and economic sectors. - Statistical techniques minimize duplication of reporting and primary compilation for statistical, prudential, and other purposes. - Techniques of adjustment for breaks in time series and adjustments for revaluations are sound. - Electronic reporting and data processing, automated validation procedures, and documentation of data compilation practices contribute to accurate and timely monetary statistics. - Regular assessment and validation of source and intermediate data are undertaken. - Revision studies take the form of notes describing investigations of sources of errors, recently focusing on comparisons of growth rates of major monetary and credit aggregates between preliminary and final statistics. ### Source data: balance of payments (BOP) statistics - Problems with source data evident in high and volatile values of net errors and omissions, complicating interpretation. - Norges Bank has announced intention to discontinue existing system. - SSB and Norges Bank propose to introduce a new data reporting system by the beginning of 2005 to address these problems. - Scope and timeliness of source data are otherwise suitable. - Statistical techniques are sound and consistent with international practice. - Assessment and validation are undertaken by suitable techniques, although investigations have had only partial success in resolving net errors and omissions. - Revision studies are conducted for major revisions but not on a routine basis. ### Key numeric details (source data) - HBS weights years: 1999, 2000, and 2001 - CPI monthly price survey: 2,200 outlets, about 45,000 prices, collected on the 15th - CPI rent survey: 1,300 housing units - PPI monthly survey: about 900 establishments, 6,000 transaction prices, collected on the 15th - MOF data frequency: budgetary central government data available seven times a year; MOF to provide monthly data within three-four weeks from the end of the reference month starting in 2003 - New BOP reporting system planned: by the beginning of 2005 --- ### Serviceability ### National accounts - Close contacts with important users; widely used and highly rated by users. - Research Department of SSB is a main user, ensuring continuous feedback. - An advisory committee provides input; no regular user survey exists. - Periodicity and timeliness of the accounts are within SDDS requirements. - Internal consistency secured by integrated compilation; series reconcilable back to 1970 (annual) and to 1991 (quarterly). - Consistent annual series including supply and use tables and input-output tables maintained for more than 30 years after major revisions in 1995 and 2002. - Revisions of current annual and quarterly accounts follow a predetermined cycle; recommendation: make revision schedules and practices more transparent to the public. - Comprehensive analyses of major revisions are published. ### Consumer price index and producer price index - Generally meet users’ needs; relevance monitored by the Advisory Committee for Price Statistics. - Both programs would benefit from periodic user surveys. - Timeliness and periodicity are within SDDS requirements. - CPI: consistency between commodity and delivery sector aggregations; historical time series from 1979. - New PPI: consistent aggregations by products and end-use categories; consistent historical data from 1995. - Revision policy and practice: - CPI: known to users. - PPI: less clear for users and could be improved to inform users timely on nature and extent of revisions. ### Government finance statistics - Meet needs for budget preparation and monitoring. - Relevance could be improved by seeking regular feedback from other users. - SSB and MOF present GFS for central government in slightly different formats; better documentation of differences recommended. - Timeliness and periodicity: - Monthly data on central government operations generally not produced, except some principal tax revenue items available 6 weeks after the reference month. - Quarterly budgetary central government data (including the National Insurance Scheme) available within two months and do not meet SDDS requirements. - Quarterly debt data on budgetary central government available within 40 days and are faster than SDDS requirements. - Annual general government data on revenue, expenditure, and net lending/borrowing available within 4 months, and on financial assets and liabilities within 10 months, and do not meet the SDDS timeliness requirement. - Internal consistency: GFS are internally consistent for most government accounts and between government sectors (annual data). - Weaknesses: reconciliation between stocks and flows, and between net lending/borrowing and financing is not properly made. - Revisions follow a regular and well-understood pattern; studies of major revisions are made public. ### Monetary statistics - Relevance and practical utility regularly reviewed with users (Monetary Policy Wing and Financial Stability Wing of Norges Bank). - Established consultation process with SSB and periodically with banking community and academia. - Timeliness and periodicity consistent with SDDS requirements. - Monthly analytical accounts of Norges Bank disseminated within one month, except December and January due to year-end balance sheet dissemination restrictions. - Analytical accounts of the banking sector disseminated within one month. - Quality control procedures and good statistical techniques ensure internal consistency and consistency over time. - Monetary statistics regularly compared with SSB national income compilations and fully reconcilable with BOP statistics. - Revision policy and practice follow a well-established schedule per Norges Bank principles; significant revisions explained on Norges Bank’s website and revision studies disseminated there. ### Balance of payments statistics - Maintain relevance via close formal (advisory committee) and informal contact with users; no regular user survey exists. - Timeliness and periodicity satisfy and are better than SDDS requirements. - Consistency over time and with other datasets is a high priority; BOP well integrated with national accounts, though linkages with international investment position data could be improved. - Revision policy and practice are appropriate and transparent, with a public revisions policy reflecting data availability and notification of changes. - Comprehensive analyses of major revisions are published. --- ### Accessibility ### National accounts - Readily accessible free of charge on the SSB website. - Press releases supplied on paper on demand; annual hard-copy publications available in identical Norwegian and English versions. - Accounts also published four times a year in the SSB publication Economic Survey with analyses and forecasts. - National accounts releases follow a 4-month advance release calendar updated on the SSB website; data made available to all users simultaneously. - Documentation standard is excellent: summary metadata under “About the Statistics” and detailed documentation in hard-copy Documents and Reports; latter also available on the website. - Knowledgeable assistance to users is readily available; contact persons and services including annual catalogues of publications are well publicized. ### Consumer price index and producer price index - Released on pre-announced schedule and made available to all users at the same time. - Monthly indices provide sufficient detail for analysis and indices. - Metadata accessible on the SSB website at various levels of detail for both CPI and PPI users. - Recommendation: PPI metadata detail could be further improved with completion of a detailed publication on concepts, sources, and methods. - Assistance to users provided via on-line contact persons and lists of documents and publications. ### Government finance statistics - Data accessibility is adequate; major aggregates and balance items can be identified and related to underlying data. - Statistics released to all users simultaneously and according to advance release calendars. - Metadata relatively complete on the SSB website. - Recommendation: more detailed explanation of relationship between published tables and the relevant standards (e.g., cash and accrual concepts) and clearer documentation of different presentations of central government operations. - Assistance to users is prompt and knowledgeable; contact persons identified in most cases. ### Monetary statistics - Readily provided through Norges Bank’s Internet website. - An advance release calendar specifying precise dates is published; data are released simultaneously to all external users. - Updated and comprehensive description of sources and methods available on the Bank’s website. - Assistance to users is a strong feature; contact persons identified and staff encouraged to respond effectively. ### Balance of payments statistics - Suitable accessibility: released on pre-announced schedule and made available to all users simultaneously. - Monthly releases provide adequate detail and some commentary; additional data available on request. - Transparent publication policies and advanced use of the internet for dissemination. - Metadata accessibility is good, with wide information available through “About the Statistics” on the SSB website. - Detailed hardcopy publication of sources and methods exists; accessibility would be improved by including it on the website. - Assistance to users provided via on-line identification of contact persons and lists of documents and publications. --- ### IV. STAFF’S RECOMMENDATIONS ### Cross-cutting recommendations Priority - Ensure that the National Summary Data Page for the DSBB is updated on a timely basis in all data categories. Fine tuning - Regularize contact with users other than those on official committees and in government to learn more about their user needs; consider periodic user surveys. - Investigate the reasons for the nonresponse by many households in the HBS and consider steps to improve response rates. Both the national accounts and the consumer price index depend heavily on accurate and reliable data from the HBS. ### National Accounts Priority - In light of the increased policy focus on short-term statistics, implement the planned quality improvement project for quarterly national accounts. - Promote better public understanding of revisions by developing and publishing studies on current revisions. Fine tuning - Enhance adequacy of national accounts statistics by improving data sources on inventories. - Make information about the complete publication and revision cycle for the accounts more readily available to the public. ### Producer Price Index Priority - Strengthen staff resources for analysis and research activities, such as by adding an additional staff person to the unit that compiles the producer price index. - Clarify revision policy, perhaps by adding a clear statement in the press release that the data are subject to revision. - Consider a revision policy in which revisions are limited to once per year at the time of the annual weight update. Fine tuning - Complete the work on preparing detailed information on concepts, sources, and methods. - Adopt a revision practice similar to that for the consumer price index, for example by notifying users six months in advance of a major revision and several weeks notice before minor revisions. - Make public the analysis of the effects on the index of the annual weight update and other minor revisions. ### Government Finance Statistics Priority - As planned for the budgetary central government, collect timely and comprehensive data from all central government units, including the extrabudgetary agencies. - Regularly disseminate government finance statistics in a presentation that fully integrates revenue, expenditure, and financial transactions. - Strengthen staff resources to meet present and future tasks. Fine tuning - Disseminate information that better clarifies links between the different presentations of central government statistics. - Implement the analytical framework and classifications of the GFSM 2001 and develop a “migration” path for full implementation of this methodology. ### Monetary Statistics Priority - Adopt the guidelines of the MFSM on the basis of recording of: - (1) loans that are presently adjusted for expected loan loss provisions; - (2) accrued interest that is presently reported separate from the underlying instruments; and - (3) gold, which is presently valued at a fixed discount below market prices. ### Balance of Payments Statistics Priority - The mission concurs with the authorities’ decision to adopt new collection arrangements. *Source: _cr03207 - 30. The weights and prices source data* ### 0. Prerequisites of quality 0.1 Legal and institutional ### _cr03207 - 0. Prerequisites of quality 0.1 Legal and institutional ### DQAF/prerequisites of quality assessment (summary grid) - Framework headings covered: prerequisites of quality, integrity, methodological soundness, accuracy and reliability, serviceability, accessibility (as used in the ROSC). - Key symbol definitions preserved: - NA = Not Applicable - O = Practice Observed - LO = Practice Largely Observed - LNO = Practice Largely Not Observed - NO = Practice Not Observed - Specific indicator notes (as shown in the assessment grid): - Resources: See paragraph 19. - Concepts and definitions / Scope: See paragraph 26. - Basis for recording: See paragraph 27. - Source data: See paragraphs 32 and 34. - Revision studies: See paragraphs 29, 32, and 34. - Relevance / Timeliness and periodicity / Consistency: See paragraph 37. - Revision policy and practice: See paragraph 36. - Metadata accessibility: See paragraph 42. ### Authorities' high-level response and administrative actions - Joint response provided by: the Ministry of Finance, Norges Bank and Statistics Norway. - Date of authorities' response letter: July 3, 2003. - Publication consent: All three institutions approve publication of the whole ROSC package, including the authorities' response, on the IMF’s website. - General views: - Authorities concur with most conclusions and priority actions recommended by the IMF. - Some recommendations already implemented; others will be followed up in future statistical system developments. - SDDS/NSDP practices: - Norway's dissemination practices generally in observance of the SDDS, with occasional deviations in updating Norway's National Summary Data Page (NSDP). - Statistics Norway changed NSDP updating frequency from once a day to three times a day (measure now taken). - User contact and surveys: - Statistics Norway will start preparations for more regular user-survey activities following the mission recommendation. - Household Budget Survey (HBS) response improvements: - Actions taken: simplification of questionnaires and accounting books; extra training for interviewers; changes in the use of incentives and consideration of alternative information sources are under consideration. ### Legal and institutional developments - Central bank Act: revised "this summer" (as stated) to give Norges Bank a separate legal framework to collect data and reduce legal complexity in data collection. ### Dataset-specific comments and follow-up actions (A–F) - A. National Accounts (Statistics Norway) - QNA quality improvement project started early 2003 to review all aspects of QNA compilation and plan further improvements. - Publication and revision transparency: - Studies on national accounts revisions will be made more readily available. - More accessible information on the complete publication and revision cycle for National Accounts will be provided on the NA web site. - Timeliness change: - The publication schedule for the QNA for the fourth quarter changed from 2003 onwards. - Timeliness for releasing provisional data is now 9 weeks after the reference quarter for all four quarters. - Inventories data: - Statistics Norway will investigate using structural business statistics to estimate changes in inventories more directly (including necessary adjustments). - B. Prices (Statistics Norway) - Producer Price Index (PPI): - A report is underway recommending one extra staff member for PPI work; decision to be taken in next year's budget allocation process. - Revision policy and user information: - Revision practice: revisions once a year — each January publication; extraordinary revisions to be announced several weeks in advance. - Web site improvements: FAQ page and more information about compilation and revision policy to be added immediately. - PPI figures are now available from StatBank Norway. - Analysis of effects from annual updates of weights (first time in January 2004) and minor revisions will be published. - New register: - A new register on newly-established enterprises, commodities and prices for the PPI survey will be effective in 2003. - Expected benefits: easier sample management and ability to reallocate resources to analysis and documentation. - Cooperation: - PPI staff will start formal cooperation with CPI to solve common problems jointly. - C. Government Finance Statistics (Statistics Norway) - SDDS flexibility use: - Norway utilizes two SDDS flexibility options for timeliness of general government operations (GGO) financing data and for periodicity and timeliness of central government operations (CGO) data. - Improvements and expectations: - Statistics Norway now receives the annual central government account earlier. - A new standardization of financial transactions proposed to help meet timeliness requirements for financing data. - Expectation to produce GGO statistics without the timeliness flexibility option in 2004. - Ministry of Finance has been collecting monthly central government accounts since January 2003 and forwarding them to Statistics Norway. - Statistics Norway expects to start reporting CGO statistics to the IMF on a monthly basis during late summer (as stated). - Accrual accounting and GFSM 2001: - A committee appointed by Royal Decree recommended accrual accounting. - Statistics Norway will start introducing the Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM) 2001 system this summer, including procedures for converting cash figures into accrued figures (already applied to taxes). - Coverage and reporting: - Ministries of Health and Local Government and Regional Development, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, ensure quarterly reports are submitted by all relevant entities for non-financial and financial accounts. - Staff resources: - Staff resources in Statistics Norway have been strengthened; recruiting trained staff remains difficult; staff attend training programs. - D. Monetary Statistics (Norges Bank) - Scope covered by ROSC: analytical accounts of the banking sector, analytical accounts of the central bank, interest and exchange rates, and data template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity. - Gold valuation: - IMF recommended change in valuation of gold (and gold loans) to align with MFSM. - Norges Bank had valued gold from 1999 using ‘fair value’ defined as 20 per cent below ‘market value’ due to illiquid markets. - In Norges Bank’s accounts for 2002 the gold reserves were written up to market prices. - Norges Bank implemented the IMF recommendation to change valuation practice. - Loans valuation and nonperforming loans: - MFSM guideline: valuations of loans should not be adjusted for expected loan losses. - Norges Bank collects figures for both gross loans and loan loss provisions on specified loans separately but in dissemination focuses on gross loans less loan loss provisions on specified loans. - Norges Bank recognizes this practice deviates from MFSM principles and established an internal task force to reconsider loan definitions across statistics. - Treatment of nonperforming loans noted as an issue to be considered in the revision process of SNA93. - Depository corporations reporting: - Deviations from MFSM guidelines partly reflect accounting rules and practices (lack of market values for some instruments, treatment of financial derivatives, parts of accrued interest treated separately). - All IMF recommendations will be considered in future system development. - E. Balance of Payments (Statistics Norway) - New data reporting system: - Statistics Norway and Norges Bank will introduce a new data reporting system by the beginning of 2005. - Project is comprehensive, involving multiple data issues and categories related to the external sector and the rest of the world. - Project is in good progress and has been underway for some considerable time already. ### ROSC mission process and documentation - ROSC and DQAF materials: - The Detailed Assessments Using the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF) were prepared by the IMF Statistics Department and approved by Carol S. Carson and Michael C. Deppler. - Document date: July 3, 2003. - The DQAF-based ROSC includes detailed dataset assessments for: - I. National Accounts - II. Price Statistics (Consumer Price Index) - III. Price Statistics (Producer Price Index) - IV. Government Finance Statistics - V. Monetary Statistics - VI. Balance of Payments Statistics *Source: Response by the Norwegian authorities and Detailed Assessments Using the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF), July 3, 2003.* ### 1. Main Sources for the Production Approach in the Annual National Accounts ...........22 ### 1. Main Sources for the Production Approach in the Annual National Accounts ...........22 ### 0. Prerequisites of quality — overview - Detailed information on indicators of statistical practices for national accounts collected from publicly available documents and officials, organized along the generic DQAF (see Appendix II). - Assessment used to prepare summary of data quality elements based on a four-part scale of observance in Norway’s ROSC—Data Module. ### 0.1 Legal and institutional environment - Legal basis - Statistics Act of June 16, 1989, No. 54 governs compilation and dissemination of statistical data in Norway. - Section 3–1: Statistics Norway (SSB) is the central body for production and dissemination of official statistics and is professionally autonomous. - SSB is administratively under the Ministry of Finance (MOF); general work program and budget decided by the Parliament. - Information on the Statistics Act published in SSB booklet "The Statistics Act of 16 June 1989, No. 54" in Norwegian and English and posted on the SSB website. - The Act does not explicitly mention national accounts or other specific types of statistics. - Role and international cooperation - SSB is part of the European Statistical System (ESS) and produces and disseminates a significant share of data according to legal requirements within the ESS. - Under Section 3-1, SSB bears main responsibility for international statistical cooperation. - ESS described (membership includes EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and its legal/regulatory basis summarized. - Advisory body: Committee on Monetary, Financial, and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB). - Data sharing and coordination - Section 1-2 of the Statistics Act: SSB has the right to decide which statistics are official and is authorized (Section 3-3) to coordinate statistical activities. - Close contacts and regular meetings with other data producing agencies (e.g., Norges Bank and various ministries) to ensure understanding of data requirements, avoid duplication, and reduce response burden. - Confidentiality and respondent information - Sections 2-4 and 2-6 of the Statistics Act prohibit publishing or disclosing data from which individual persons or firms can be identified. - Researchers may be granted access under strict rules and conditions. - Norwegian Data Inspectorate guidelines frame internal and management data security. - SSB enforces confidentiality; disciplinary actions (including dismissal and fines) apply for violations. - No violations of confidentiality for national accounts data reported. - Respondents informed in writing about rights and obligations; data used for statistical purposes only. - Reporting mandate and compliance - Sections 2-2 and 2-3 provide for mandatory reporting and penalties for non-compliance. - Approximately 7,000 cases annually across SSB where respondents are fined for non-compliance; appeals may be lodged with the Ministry of Finance. - SSB Strategy 2002: aims to reduce response burden via administrative registers, motivating respondents, improving questionnaires, coordinating samples, and offering electronic reporting. - Reference to SSB Annual Report 2001 for these priorities. ### 0.2 Resources - Organization and staffing - Statistics Norway has a staff of approximately 850, of which 500 are in Oslo and 350 are in Kongsvinger. - Divided into six departments: Economic Statistics, Social Statistics, Industry Statistics, Research, Coordination and Development, and Administrative Affairs. - Staff turnover: in 2001, 81 employees (9 percent) resigned; 81 percent of those who resigned had higher education; more than 60 percent had up to four years experience. Turnover slightly higher than 2000 when 77 resigned. - National Accounts Division (DNA) recent staffing: 25–28 staff members, of which 18–20 are university graduates, mainly economists. - Allocation of staff years to national accounts fields (including 2002 Data Revision) - Central annual accounting framework* 11 - Institutional sector accounts* 6 - Quarterly accounts 4 - Labour accounts 2 - Regional accounts 1 - Satellite accounts 2 - Balance of payments 2 - General administration 1 - *Including 2002 Data Revision. - Organizational practice and matrix structure - Division of labour follows a matrix organisation: same person responsible for a category in both quarterly and annual accounts. - QNA team includes as many as 20 persons responsible for different parts of the compilation process despite only four staff years explicitly allocated to quarterly national accounts. - Matrix organisation facilitates sharing knowledge of methods, sources, and background information across annual and quarterly NA. - Support and collaboration - Specialized divisions handle administrative tasks and computer processing support DNA. - DNA collaborates closely with Division for Public Finance and Credit Market Statistics (DPCS) on institutional sector accounts and with Norges Bank on balance of payments. - Long tradition of continuity in DNA staff reinforced by close relationship to SSB Research Department. - Staff participate in international cooperation and consulting; on-the-job training emphasized. - Computing and software - Each person has a workstation and high level of computer technology used in DNA. - SNA-NT software used for compiling the annual accounts: routines for establishing, balancing, correcting, and updating detailed supply and use tables in both current and constant prices (including chain linking). - More aggregated highly computerised calculation system used for quarterly national accounts. - Resource adequacy and pressures - Overall, staff, computing, and financial resources judged adequate for current production of annual and quarterly national accounts and extensions. - Main revisions and development/renewal projects have put considerable pressure on timeliness and quality of current releases, even with extra staff allocated. - Measures for efficient use of resources - SSB management promotes vision and direction described in SSB’s Strategy 2002. - Process measurement and resource usage monitors are in place and used in national accounts program. - Production schedules based on announced release dates are prepared and adhered to. - Weekly review and follow-up meetings held between head of division and responsible staff; quarterly project follow-up meetings held. - Annual review assesses efficiency of resource utilization, including allocation of staff time. - Detailed timetables for production processes of annual and quarterly accounts; routines continually debated and improved, though sometimes unchanged due to timeliness constraints or lack of human resources. - Compilation of a comprehensive suite of national accounts products on a timely basis by relatively small staff considered an indicator of efficient use of human and computing resources. *Source: _cr03207 - 1. Main Sources for the Production Approach in the Annual National Accounts ...........22* ### 0.3 Quality awareness ### _cr03207 - 0.3 Quality awareness ### 0.3.1 Processes are in place to focus on quality - Quality work in SSB is organized within a framework of "systematic quality work", inspired by Total Quality Management and practices in other national statistical institutions. - Quality dimensions are discussed in the Annual Report and in Strategy 2002; individual statistics document several quality criteria in “About the Statistics” on the SSB website. - SSB participates in Eurostat’s task forces on quality indicators and exchanges experiences, methods, and technology with other statistical institutions. - The systematic approach began in 2001 and covers all activities and employees; management commitment is emphasized. - Training and capacity building: - All directors and heads of divisions and office heads (in total 50) received two days of training. - In 2001 SSB trained 18 so-called quality pilots to participate in improvement projects as facilitators. - Another 20 quality pilots were being educated in 2002. - Systematic quality thinking is incorporated into other training schemes. - Quality improvement projects are undertaken annually across SSB. - In 2003 one planned improvement project is for the quarterly national accounts (QNA). - The draft QNA project emphasizes improving existing short term statistics, developing new source data, making the QNA the central instrument for publishing short-term statistics, and discussing/examining user needs. - The needs of Norges Bank under its new mandate for monetary policy (inflation targeting) are explicitly mentioned. - The project outcome is to be a master plan for further development of QNA with main emphasis on quality awareness. ### 0.3.2 Processes are in place to monitor the quality of the collection, processing, and dissemination of statistics - Quarterly and annual data production processes are linked: versions of the annual data (except in main revisions) are published simultaneously with a set of quarterly data; first two versions of the annual data are obtained as sum of quarters. - Working process for QNA: - The calculation model is run in several rounds with successively updated indicators and final use of adjustment factors (see 3.2.1) if necessary. - Working meetings are held with persons responsible for various short-term statistics in other SSB divisions to discuss events, weaknesses in short-term statistics, indicators, and information behind specific data. - A meeting is organized with the Research Department forecasting team to examine preliminary QNA results; this can reveal curiosities or mistakes when results are used for forecasts. - A final approval meeting is organized with SSB management about a week before release (usual participants include representatives from the QNA team in DNA, forecasting team in Research Department, managers from divisions producing short-term statistics used as indicators in the QNA, the Director for the Department for Economic Statistics, The Director for the Department of Industry Statistics, and the Director General of SSB). - Minutes from meetings, including the QNA approval meeting, are distributed to all parts involved in the QNA production process. - Routines and the working process are continually discussed, evaluated, and sometimes changed to secure and improve data quality. ### 0.3.3 Processes are in place to deal with quality considerations, including tradeoffs within quality, and to guide planning for existing and emerging needs - User input and international engagement: - The Advisory Committee for National Accounts and Balance of Payments (set up in 2000) provides input on user needs; these are evaluated and considered in improvement projects. - Participation in international fora, such as the Committee for Monetary, Financial, and Balance of Payments Statistics, contributes to addressing user and methodological needs. - Past external quality evaluation: - In 1997 the EU Commission and Eurostat completed a quality evaluation of national accounts in all EEA countries and concluded that the Norwegian national accounts are of a high quality, soundly based on reliable and exhaustive sources, and integrated in a system with a detailed product breakdown. ### 1. Integrity #### 1.1 Professionalism - Independence and governance: - The Statistics Act underlines SSB's independence regarding content of statistics and analyses; SSB decides independently what to publish and when/how. - SSB is administratively under the Ministry of Finance and has a Board appointed by the government; the Board has 7 members and the chairman is appointed by the government. - The Director General attends Board meetings but is not a member. - No evidence of undue pressure or political influence on SSB or its Director General; the current Director General has served for 12 years in his present position. - Funding and user-funded work: - User-funded assignments have increased and now cover about 25 percent of the total budget. - For national accounts, user-funded assignments count for only one person-year of the total staff. - Funding agencies cannot influence outcomes; contract work results are publicly available and clearly identified as contract work. - Strategy 2002 states: “The extent of user-funded commissions must not be of such a magnitude that it threatens SSB’s independence and the primary priorities the institution has as central statistical producer.” - Professional development: - Staff receive training in statistics, computer processing, teamwork, and management; substantial on-the-job training via mentors. - A personnel policy document was prepared and approved in 2001 to retain employees with higher education longer and improve quality and efficiency. - A redesigned training programme for new employees was in place in 2001. - A qualification scheme for professional statisticians was introduced and piloted in 2002: - A special screening committee (with external participation) found that about half of the 25 applicants for the new title Statistical Adviser qualified. - The title carried a significant increase in pay. - The longer-term aim is to create a generally accepted title as specialist in official statistics associated with high prestige. - The general statistical qualifications in the scheme may not be immediately relevant for DNA, where emphasis traditionally is on qualifications in economics. - Staff are encouraged to do research and publish; an agency review process ensures published research meets SSB standards. - Reputation: - The IMF's user survey conducted with this ROSC and a Norwegian survey rating national institutions indicate that SSB has a high reputation. #### 1.1.2 Choices of sources and statistical techniques are informed solely by statistical considerations - The Statistics Act provides SSB independence to choose sources and methods as part of agency-wide discussions considering costs and resources. - Decisions on data sources and techniques are based on best practice and state-of-the-art methods; agency-wide decisions on data collection methods are made on cost and productivity considerations. - A key trade-off in national accounts is between continuity and accuracy/reliability when new data sources become available. #### 1.1.3 The appropriate statistical entity is entitled to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics - SSB is entitled to comment on erroneous interpretations and misuse and has done so in a few cases for national accounts. ### 1.2 Transparency #### 1.2.1 Terms and conditions are publicly available - The complete set of documents articulating the terms and conditions for SSB’s statistical program is available on the SSB website and summarised on the IMF’s Dissemination Standard Bulletin Board (DSBB). #### 1.2.2 Internal governmental access prior to release is publicly identified - There is no access by government officials outside SSB to national accounts data prior to release. - SSB’s website release policy ensures non-differential treatment of national accounts data users; ministries and all other users are treated equally (policy described on the DSBB and noted in the Annual Report 2001, page 46). - Within SSB, forecasters from the Research Department, directors of the Departments of Economic Statistics and Industry Statistics, and the Director General participate in approval meetings about a week before release. #### 1.2.3 Products are clearly identified as SSB output - All SSB publications identify SSB as producer; joint publications clearly identify all joint producers. - SSB requests users to identify SSB as the source when its statistics are reproduced. #### 1.2.4 Advance notice of major methodological changes is given - Two major changes in methodology/source data/statistical techniques in the last decade: - 1995 Main Revision introducing the 1993 SNA and the 1995 ESA (work over a five-year period, first announced in 1991 and covered in Økonomiske Analyser in 1994). - 2002 Data Revision introducing important new data sources and updated classifications (outlined in a box in Economic Survey in February 2002 and mentioned in SSB’s Annual Report for 2001). - Advance notice was given for both revisions; notice for release of subsequent backwards series has been shorter. ### 1.3 Ethical standards #### 1.3.1 Staff behaviour guidelines - Employment contracts include references to general civil servant rules, obligation to obtain special permission for secondary jobs that may interfere with “duty of loyalty,” and a separate “declaration of secrecy” to be signed. - These documents were revised within the past two years and all employees were given new contracts to sign. - Employees receive the booklet Staff Policy in SSB: Values, Aims and Principles (available on the internal SSB website). ### 2. Methodological soundness #### 2.1 Concepts and definitions - The overall structure for concepts and definitions follows internationally accepted standards: - With the 1995 Main Revision, Norway became the first country in Europe to institute guidelines in the 1993 SNA and the 1995 ESA. - The 1995 Main Revision changed definitions and classifications and integrated new statistics and estimation methods; it was completed in 2000 with revised time series back to 1970. - The 2002 Data Revision introduced: the 1999 versions of COFOG and COICOP, methodological changes to calculate output from forestry as growth in cultivated forest, and a geometric method in the calculation of consumption of fixed capital. #### 2.2 Scope - Core coverage consistent with ISWGNA minimum requirements for the 1993 SNA/1995 ESA (compiled regularly): - annual value added and gross domestic product (GDP) at current and constant prices by activity, - annual expenditures of GDP at current and constant prices, - annual value added components at current prices by activity, - sequence of accounts for the total economy (until net lending) with an annual frequency, - annual rest of world accounts (until net lending). - ISWGNA recommended tables compiled on a regular basis: - quarterly value added and GDP at current and constant prices by activity, - quarterly expenditures of GDP at current and constant prices, - annual supply and use tables. - Norwegian accounts have broader scope, including: - annual institutional sector accounts (through net lending), - annual symmetric input-output tables (industry-by-industry), - capital stock by industry and type of capital, - tourism satellite accounts, - environmental accounts, - regional accounts by county. - Oil and gas extraction on the Norwegian Continental Shelf allocated to an extra region including Svalbard and Jan Mayen and economic activities abroad. - Detailed annual supply and use tables compiled: about 1200 products and 150 industries using the commodity flow method; supply and use and input-output tables compiled in an integrated system at current and previous year prices. - Distinctions made for Mainland-Norway versus Petroleum activities and ocean transport for relevant categories such as production and fixed capital formation. - Financial accounts are not included in SSB’s national accounts publications (annual financial balance sheets and revaluation accounts by institutional sectors are compiled to 1997); Norges Bank, in cooperation with SSB, compiles and publishes annual and quarterly financial transaction accounts by institutional sector on a current basis, including annual financial balance sheets. - Residence definition follows the 1995 ESA and the fifth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual; Norwegian territory includes Mainland Norway, the Norwegian part of the Continental Shelf, Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Bjørnøya, territorial enclaves in the rest of the world, free zones/bonded warehouses/factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control, and workers who work part of the year in another country. - Production boundary is in accordance with the 1995 ESA. Notable scope and boundary practices: - Mineral exploration, whether successful or not, is capitalized. - Output of goods for own-account fixed capital formation (buildings and main repairs) is separately identified. - Coverage of production of entertainment, literary or artistic originals, and own-account computer software is only implemented to the extent data are available and thus currently incomplete. - Norwegian practice for capitalizing expenditures on computer software is relatively restrictive. - Research and development carried out by market producers on own-account is generally not identified and valued separately. - Estimates of illegal output sold to willing buyers are not included (1995 ESA conventions). - Own-account production for own final consumption includes owner-occupied dwellings, domestic services, and estimates for production/storage/processing of agricultural, fishing and hunting products and construction of dwellings (mainly major repairs). - Asset boundary is in accordance with the 1993 SNA and the 1995 ESA: - Tangible assets: defense-related assets usable for civilian purposes, valuables and historical monuments (valuables grouped with fixed capital formation); agricultural work-in-progress relevant for quarterly national accounts only, output of crops recorded at harvest; growth in cultivated forests treated as work-in-progress. - Intangible assets: mineral exploration capitalized prior to 1993 SNA/1995 ESA; systems and standard applications computer software and databases (purchased or built in-house), and entertainment/literary/artistic originals are in principle within the asset boundary though coverage is limited in practice. - Transactions in patented entities and leases/transferable contracts are not separately identified in institutional capital accounts and coverage is very limited, mainly related to balance of payments transactions. - Regular Norwegian capital stock calculations do not include non-produced assets; sale of mobile phone licenses in 2000 is treated as sale of a non-produced asset. *Source: _cr03207 - 0.3 Quality awareness* ### 2.3 Classification/sectorization ### _cr03207 - 2.3 Classification/sectorization ### Classification and sectorization systems (2.3.1) - Classification and sectorization conform with internationally recommended systems and follow the 1995 ESA classifications for institutional units, transactions, and other flows. - Industry classification: - Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification (SN94) is used; its first four digits coincide with NACE, Rev.1. - An aggregated version of Classification of Products by Activity (CPA) is used to classify products. - Producer classification: - Producing units are classified into market and non-market producers. - Non-market producers are further classified into production for own final use, government non-market producers, and private non-profit institutions serving households. - Household and government function classifications: - COICOP is used to classify household consumption; the 1999 version was introduced in connection with the 2002 Data Revision. At the detailed level, 98 consumption groups are specified. - COFOG is used to classify functions of government; the 1999 version was introduced in connection with the 2002 Data Revision. The most detailed breakdown contains 67 groups. - Capital formation classification: - Classification by type of capital formation contains 66 groups, of which four relate to intangible assets. - Gross fixed capital formation is also broken down by kind of activities to ensure full accordance with the activity classification in production. - Institutional sector specifics: - In the Norwegian institutional sector accounts, social security funds are always grouped together with central government. - No quasi-corporations owned by households are identified to be included in the non-financial corporations sector; private business activity of importance is formally organized as corporations. ### Basis for recording (2.4) #### Valuation at market prices (2.4.1) - Market output is valued at producers’ and basic prices. - Producers’ prices are used in the institutional sector accounts and as one of the price concepts in the supply and use tables. - Output for own final use is in principle valued at equivalent market prices; in some cases a cost approach is used (e.g., own-account major repairs). - Treatment of taxes and trade: - Sales and excise taxes are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption. - Value added taxes are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption, excluding the deductible part of the value added taxes; the deductible part is excluded from the valuation of final uses. - Other valuation practices: - No attempts are made to identify transfer prices; therefore no corrections are made. - Expenditures on insurance and freight for merchandise imports are estimated in connection with the compilation of the balance of payment. - Total imports and exports are valued on a free on board (f.o.b.) basis. - Transactions in foreign currency are converted to Norwegian Krone in connection with compilation of foreign trade statistics and the balance of payments; results are applied in the national accounts without corrections. #### Accrual recording (2.4.2) - Transactions are in principle recorded on an accrual basis; work-in-progress is recorded in the period it is produced. Source data are adjusted as needed to reflect accrual recording. - Government data adjustments: - Central government source data are on a cash basis; local government source data are on a modified accrual basis (hospitals and universities separated out are on an accrual basis). - National accounts data on the government sector as a whole are in principle on an accrual basis. - Transformations from cash to accrual are carried out in the DNA (for product taxes) and in the Research Department (for income taxes), for both annual and quarterly data. - Adjusted data are used in the Division for Public Finance and Credit Market Statistics for the accrual version of government finance statistics. - VAT and other taxes: - Value added tax (VAT) is calculated as the theoretical VAT in the supply and use tables. - After the Data Revision in 2002 the theoretical VAT exceeds actual VAT receipts by 1-4 percent over the years; this is regarded positively since a negative difference would indicate exhaustiveness problems. - This method will in principle lead to a slight overvaluation of the GDP because VAT on black market activities, for example, is included. - For other taxes and subsidies on products, accrual values are often estimated from cash values by assuming a fixed time lag for each category. - No attempts are made to convert cash payments of interest into accrued interest. - Other government revenues/expenditures: - For most central and local government items data can be taken to represent accrual values, though there are exceptions (e.g., wages: central government data received on cash basis, local government on accrual basis). - A working group, of which SSB is a member, will in January 2003 submit a report to the MOF proposing a transition of the central government accounts and budget from a cash to an accrual basis; full implementation is expected to take a number of years. - In compiling general government accounts, SSB follows the modifications to the 1995 ESA introduced in 2000, under which taxes and social contributions that accrue but are never paid to government must be excluded from government net lending/borrowing; this is implemented by a capital transfer from general government to the sectors on which the unpaid taxes were assessed. - SSB is responsible for the calculation of the government deficit according to the EU Excessive Deficit Procedure for past years. #### Grossing/netting procedures (2.4.3) - Transactions between establishments within the same enterprise are recorded on a gross basis, with two exceptions: - Agriculture: the principle of “the national farm” according to the 1995 ESA convention has been introduced. - Producers of electric power: consolidated treatment for practical reasons. - Limitations: - Existing data sources do not allow full gross accounting in some service industries, particularly business services. *Source: _cr03207 - 2.3 Classification/sectorization* ### 3.1 Source data ### 3.1 Source data ### Overview of data collection and general approach - Data are collected from comprehensive data collection programs that take into account country-specific conditions. - Historically, Norway has had more abundant statistics on domestic production, exports, and imports than on incomes and expenditures; the production approach has therefore been the main approach used. - In practice, none of the three approaches (production, expenditures, and income) are used independently. - Even at the industry level, value added may not always be estimated primarily from the production approach when reliable data do not exist. ### Main classification schemes and scope (production approach) - Activity classification based on NACE Rev.1 (SIC94 introduced in 1994, primarily based on NACE Rev.1). - Product classification based on CPA. - Number of activities specified: about 150 (altogether 190 when also including the market/non-market distinction). - Number of products: about 1,200, of which 700 are goods and 500 are services. - Distribution between goods-producing and services-producing activities: 60–40. - Separate categories for market production, production for own final use, and three categories for other non-market production (central government, local government, NPISHs). ### Source mix and trends - A mixture of administrative records and statistical surveys is used as sources. - Increased focus on exploiting administrative data in recent decades; continued efforts to improve the business register. - Structural business statistics (including accounting data) have become more important, particularly since the 2002 Data Revision. ### The business register (Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises) - Comprises in principle all production units, including one-person enterprises. - Linked since 1995 to Norway's National Register of Legal Units (The Brønnøysund Register), the Value Added Tax Register of the Directorate of Taxes, and the Register of Employers of the National Insurance Administration. - Statistical units in the business register: legal units, enterprises, local units, kind-of-activity units (KAUs) and local KAUs. Local KAU ≡ establishment as per ISIC Rev.3. - Majority of entries taken from the Brønnøysund register (Value Added Tax Register, Register of Employers). - SSB has a long tradition of using local KAU (establishment) as the statistical unit for compiling GDP estimates via the production approach. - Emphasis retained on the local KAU dimension despite wider use of enterprise-based structural business statistics. - For manufacturing: all local KAUs with at least 10 employees are included; all local KAUs in multi-enterprises with at least one manufacturing local KAU with 10 or more employees are included. - The Standard Industry Form (collected by tax authorities) is collected from all enterprises with manufacturing activity with at least 10 employees. - For remaining local KAUs, a complete data set is estimated based on annual company accounts, employment and sales. - A complete set of statements from 12,000 enterprises to the tax authorities is used in the new structural business statistics. ### Main sources and assessment of adequacy for the production approach (annual accounts) - Table summarizes activities, main sources, and assessment of adequacy of coverage (selected entries): - Agriculture and forestry: Aggregated accounts for agriculture compiled by the Budgeting Committee for Agriculture; SSB’s annual forestry statistics. Assessment: Adequate. - Fishing: Catch statistics from the Directorate of Fisheries and register based annual census data for fish farming; Annual cost surveys of fishing boats and fish farming. Assessment: Adequate. - Crude oil and gas production / Mining: Based on census type sources collected from operators; Mining statistics cover mining. Assessment: Adequate. - Manufacturing industries: Manufacturing statistics including structural business statistics; PRODCOM product statistics. Assessment: Adequate. - Electricity and water supply: Annual electricity statistics; Local government accounts for water supply. Assessment: Adequate. - Construction: Construction statistics including new structural business statistics; own-account construction of dwellings (major improvements based on surveys from 1988 and 1989); Non-market output of central and local government. Assessment: Adequate, except for major improvements. - Wholesale and retail trade: Annual wholesale and retail trade statistics; Structural business statistics; Sample surveys on trade margins (1996 and 1998). Assessment: Adequate. - Hotels and restaurants: Statistics from SSB’s business register; Structural business statistics; Hotel statistics. Assessment: Adequate. - Transport, storage and communication: Structural business statistics; Annual accounts and reports; Annual maritime statistics; Foreign trade statistics; Statistics from SSB’s business register. Assessment: Adequate. - Financial intermediation: Credit market statistics for banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. Assessment: Adequate. - Real estate, renting and business activities: Housing and rent statistics; Household budget survey; Structural business statistics. Assessment: Adequate. - Public administration and defence, compulsory social insurance: Central government accounts; Local government accounts; Annual cost survey data on defence activities. Assessment: Adequate. - Education and health: Central government accounts; Local government accounts; Annual statistics of health institutions; Ad hoc surveys and costs data. Assessment: Adequate. - Other community, social and personal service activities: Central and local government accounts; Cultural statistics; Structural business statistics. Assessment: Adequate except for some personal services. - Private households with employed persons: Household budget survey. Assessment: Adequate. ### Expenditure approach: main classifications and sources - Classifications used: COFOG and COICOP for final consumption expenditure of general government and households; classifications of fixed assets and activities for GFCF; breakdowns on inventories and on exports and imports. - Mixture of administrative records and statistical surveys used. - Household final consumption expenditure sources: household budget surveys, retail trade statistics, commodity flow method. - NPISH final consumption expenditure: most often based indirectly on government accounting data; NPISHs explicitly estimated only since 1995. - Government final consumption expenditure: central government accounts and local government accounts; fees from households and/or other sectors deducted from output. - GFCF: industry-based sources used for production approach also inform GFCF; commodity flow approach plays substantive role in subsequent phases. - Changes in inventories: main approach is balancing supply and use for each product using the commodity flow method. - Exports/imports of goods: aggregated external trade statistics distributed on 540 exports and 635 imports products. - Exports/imports of services: generally estimated from settlement statistics from Norges Bank combined with accounting statistics for export-oriented industries (oil and gas, maritime ocean transport). - By the end of 2004, foreign exchange statistics will cease; SSB and Norges Bank are planning new statistics on foreign trade in services based on direct reporting from enterprises. - Table summary (selected expenditure categories and adequacy): - Household consumption expenditures: Household budget survey; Annual retail trade statistics; Output data and commodity flow method; Statistics on new registrations of motor vehicles; Annual accounts and statistics of various transportation services; Electricity and energy statistics; Central and local government accounts; Social and health statistics. Assessment: Adequate except for certain personal services. - Final consumption of NPISHs: Central and local government accounts; Commodity flow method. Assessment: Reasonable. - Government final consumption expenditures: Central and local government accounts. Assessment: Adequate. - Gross fixed capital formation: Same sources as for output by activity; Annual construction statistics; Register of vehicles; Annual cost survey data on defence activities; Commodity flow method. Assessment: Adequate for tangible assets; Not adequate for intangible assets. - Changes in inventories: Only scattered or unreliable information exist; Commodity flow method; Expert judgements. Assessment: Poor. - Acquisitions less disposals of valuables: Works of art based on commodity flow method; This main category otherwise not introduced. Assessment: Poor. - Exports and imports of goods: Foreign trade statistics. Assessment: Adequate. - Exports and imports of services: Foreign exchange statistics from Norges Bank; Maritime transport statistics; Oil and gas activity statistics; Tourist/travel statistics. Assessment: Not adequate, except for the oil industry. ### Income approach and sector accounts - The income approach is less developed than the output and expenditure approaches; main role is to estimate income components of GDP. - Recently, independent information on operating surplus from accounting statistics has increased the role of the income approach. - Integration of institutional sector accounts and supply and use tables in the 2002 Data Revision has increased the role of the income approach. - Independent sector accounts compiled for the non-financial corporations sector. - Household sector estimates primarily based on tax information. ### Household Budget Survey (HBS) - HBS in Norway carried out annually since 1974 on a continual basis; national accounts are important users. - Comprehensive, representative survey combined with income and education registers. - Sample: households to which 2,200 representatively selected persons aged between 0 and 79 years belong. Institutional households are not included. - Data collection: Computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) together with records kept by alternating households for 14 day periods. - Editing: particular attention to outliers; imputation methods used for non-response. - Non-response rate in the 1998 survey: 45 percent. - Product classification based on COICOP; from the 1996-98 release COICOP-HBS is applied. - Most detailed published level: 470 groups of goods and services. Standard aggregations contain 150, 37 and 9 groups. - Production for own-consumption and ownership of durable goods are included; results shown by socio-economic groups and by regions (counties). - Because of limited sample size, only aggregated results published for a particular year; more detailed tables based on three-year averages (in the prices of the last year). - For the 2002 Data Revision, a specific graduation method developed: based on data from each quarter 1979-1999, and for 92 product groups, SSB Research Department developed a statistical model based on Kalman filter methods. Raw data for single years have been available as well. ### Government statistics and quarterly reporting - Comprehensive government statistics available. - Central government quarterly and annual statistics for income and expenditures compiled; local government similar data available annually. - Monthly statistics on paid taxes (cash basis) available; taxes on products adjusted to an accrual basis for national accounts. - Annual statistics on local government purchases of goods and services (including government-owned enterprises) are being compiled. - General government accounts (down to the capital account) compiled annually according to national accounts concepts, including expenditures classified according to the 1999-version of COFOG. - Local government data used in the quarterly national accounts are based on a non-representative (voluntary) sample that does not include the municipality of Oslo for the time being. - Expected new government instruction to make quarterly reporting compulsory from 2004. - All hospitals and universities, with a few exceptions, are government-owned and are now organized as separate units outside direct central and local government control; they have a separate accrual accounting system from which quarterly reporting takes place. *Source: 3.1 Source data (excerpt).* ### 2002. Both hospitals and universities are, however, classified with central government. ### _cr03207 - 2002. Both hospitals and universities are, however, classified with central government. ### Surveys and data collection - Periodic surveys/censuses are conducted when annual surveys do not exist, typically every "two to five years". - Latest survey of composition of intermediate consumption in manufacturing industries refers to the year "1997"; historically carried out with "five-year intervals". - DNA has requested a new survey covering the year "2002" and generally more frequent statistics in this area. - Ad hoc surveys fill gaps: trade margins surveys in retail and wholesale conducted at irregular intervals (most recent retail: "1996"; wholesale: "1998"; earlier surveys in the "mid-eighties"). - Trade-margin and many similar short-term statistics are "not compiled at all in most countries" (as noted for these types). ### Sources and adequacy of data for the quarterly national accounts — Production approach (summary of Table 3) - Agriculture, forestry and fishing - Main sources: physical quantity indicators. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate". - Mining, manufacturing and electricity - Main sources: SSB’s monthly index of industrial production (output at constant prices). - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate". - Crude oil and gas production - Main sources: monthly data on tons of crude oil produced; natural gas and pipeline transport from foreign trade statistics and the balance of payments. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate". - Construction - Main sources: quarterly production index for construction together with some other sources. - Assessment of adequacy: "Reasonable". - Wholesale and retail trade - Main sources: no short-term information on trade margins; output at constant prices calculated by the commodity-flow method in the input-output model. - Assessment of adequacy: "Not adequate". - Hotels and restaurants - Main sources: number of guest nights for accommodation services; revenue for hotel services; VAT-based sale statistics for restaurants; deflation with consumer price index components. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate". - Transport and communication - Main sources: railway—physical indicators; other public transport—revenue; air—quarterly accounts for Scandinavian Airlines and passenger numbers; ocean—integrated with balance of payments; other transport services—various indicators; post and telecommunication—new types of statistics. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate except for other transport services and post and telecommunication". - Dwellings - Main sources: services of dwellings extrapolated from base year using housing stock. - Assessment of adequacy: "Reasonable". - Other private services - Main sources: bank services—volume index for payment transactions; insurance services—employment data; business services—employment data and VAT-based sale statistics; other private services—partly trend extrapolation. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate for bank services" and "Not adequate for business and other private services". - Government non-market services - Main sources: central government accounts on national accounts form; local government from a non-representative sample; general government consumption of fixed capital computed in the model using a geometric method. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate for central government" and "Not adequate for local government". - Intermediate consumption - Main approach: for most industries the share of intermediate consumption (in constant prices) is assumed to be the same as in the base year. - Assessment of adequacy: "Not adequate". ### Sources and adequacy of data for the quarterly national accounts — Expenditure approach (summary of Table 4) - Household final consumption expenditures - Main sources: Retail sales index for goods; volume indicators for specific goods (number of new car registrations; sales of beer, mineral water and tobacco; electricity and petroleum products). - Coverage note: "Quarterly indicators only to a limited extent cover services." - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate for goods" and "Not adequate for services". - Final consumption expenditures by government and NPISHs - Main sources: quarterly data for central government; sample for local governments; NPISHs assumed to be a fixed share of output as in the base year. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate for central government" and "Not adequate for local government and for NPISHs". - Gross fixed capital formation - Main sources: SSB’s quarterly investment statistics for manufacturing, mining and quarrying and electricity supply; building statistics; registration statistics for cars and trucks; acquisitions of ships and airplanes based mainly on import and export data. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate for manufacturing industries." and "Not adequate for most other activities". - Changes in inventories - Main approach: calculated residually by the commodity balance method in the input-output model. - Assessment of adequacy: "Not adequate". - Exports and imports - Main sources: foreign trade statistics and the balance of payments. - Assessment of adequacy: "Adequate for goods" and "Not adequate for services". ### Employment and compensation data - Since "1997" Statistics Norway has published employment data in connection with the quarterly national accounts (employees and self-employed by industry). - Quarterly estimates on total hours worked are published from "1999"; sources are registers and the Labour Force Survey. - Employees in central and local government, and NPISHs, are calculated from quarterly estimates of compensation of employees and average wages and salaries in these activities. - Compensation of employees is "at present not included in the QNA", but SSB plans to compile and publish such data in the near future. ### Source data definitions, integration, and timeliness - National accounts play a coordinating and integrating role; official statistics concepts in SSB and Norges Bank are influenced by national accounts concepts, though survey concepts sometimes differ to align with business accounting. - SSB has collected supplementary information in the NO statement to improve usefulness for national accounts (inventories, goods purchased for resale and trade margin, details on purchase and sales of tangible and intangible assets such as software, and breakdown by KAU for multi-KAU-enterprises). - User needs and internal SSB use (economic modeling, business cycle analysis, integration with balance of payments) influence source-data collection and priorities. - Timeliness improvements have been pursued as part of quality management; both quarterly and annual accounts follow revision sequences governed by data availability. - For the first (preliminary) versions of quarterly and annual accounts, source data are more limited than for later versions; interaction exists between production schedules and basic statistics. - Some short-term statistics unavoidably have production periods exceeding eight weeks, affecting first-version coverage. - Implementation phases of structural business statistics have caused timeliness problems for the first proper version of the annual accounts (released "16 months after the reference year"). - Close cooperation and follow-up procedures exist between national accounts compilers and source-data producers to ensure timely provision. - The first version of the QNA for the fourth quarter (published only "five weeks" after the reference quarter in connection with the first annual estimate for the preceding year) relies on incomplete data; many indicators cover only the first two months of the quarter, requiring projections and assumptions. - The second version for the fourth quarter (released in April with the second annual accounts) often contains significant revisions relative to the first version. - SSB has decided to discontinue compilation of the early fourth-quarter version from "2003" onwards; future timeliness for all four quarters will thus be "nine–ten weeks". *Source: _cr03207 - 2002. Both hospitals and universities are, however, classified with central government.* ### 3.2 Statistical techniques ### _cr03207 - 3.2 Statistical techniques ### 3.2.1 Data compilation employs sound statistical techniques - Norway's national accounts have been based on the commodity flow method since inception; supply and use tables compiled for more than 30 years enabling complete integration between national accounts and input-output tables. - The commodity flow system: main system plus sub-systems; full annual national accounts contains several million elements (most zero-value). - Supply and use tables for products: about 200,000 elements, of which 70-80,000 are non-zero and must be estimated. - Work is highly computerized to handle data detail. - Objectives of framework: - Utilize all kinds of specific information. - Be robust to changes in definitions and classifications. - Allow maximum flexibility for data users. - Provide a good basis for deflation to improve constant-price estimates. - SNA-NT software: - Used for annual integrated economic accounts for institutional sectors, supply and use tables, input-output tables, tourism satellite accounts, and monthly balance of payments. - Based on international guidelines of the 1993 SNA and the 1995 ESA. - Client-Server system: "Clients" are Windows PCs; "Server" is an Oracle relational database. - Developed using Microsoft Visual C++; uses Oracle RDBMS; multi-user networked system in SSB. - Modules establish, balance, and update supply and use tables in current prices and by valuation types (basic, producers', purchasers' values, etc.). - Enables calculation of supply and use table for a year in prices of a previous base year. - Compiles integrated set of price and volume measures (chain indices) within annual supply and use tables. - Converts supply and use tables into industry-by-industry input-output tables in current and previous year prices. - Valuation components attached to specific product flows: - trade margins and other kinds of margin combined, non-deductible VAT, the Norwegian-typical investment levy (abolished on October 1, 2002), other taxes on products, and subsidies on products. - Articulated approach allows accrual valuation for net taxes. - Balancing process: - Use SNA-NT interactive functions to analyze balanced accounts including residuals. - Manual follow-up to detailed primary statistics sometimes required. - Shared among staff; balancing with constant price compilation typically takes one–two months. - Compilation system for quarterly accounts discussed under "specific quarterly compilation techniques". ### Production approach procedures - Detail levels: - System has 1,200 product groups; this is below source data counts. - External trade statistics specify some 6000 products for exports and imports of goods. - PRODCOM specifies some 5000 products for manufacturing output. - National accounts manufacturing output: 565 product groups (considerable aggregation). - National accounts activity classification: 150 industries; services products often defined from more detailed activities. - Supply matrix size: approximately 1,200 products by 150 industries. - Imports added at 1,200 product level; customs duties considered taxes on products. - Supply in basic prices consists of output in basic prices and imports in c.i.f. prices. - Imports of services derived from integrated balance of payments statistics with further elaboration for required detail. - Activity classification based on aggregations from NACE, Rev. 1 (primarily 2-digit, 3-digit, some 4- and 5-digit levels). - Manufacturing and mining/quarrying: - File established and updated annually to transform manufacturing statistics to national accounts products; fed directly from database into system. - Non-manufacturing industries: - Many different sources and estimation methods; closeness to source data varies across industries. - Intermediate consumption: - Total intermediate consumption by industry based on similar sources as output but estimation more complicated. - Manufacturing intermediate consumption by product: readily available yearly until 1988; comprehensive censuses thereafter irregular (most recent for 1993 and 1997). - Structural business statistics provide summary input structures; situation deteriorated recently with only summary input structure available annually. - New comprehensive census on intermediate consumption in manufacturing planned for 2002. - For non-manufacturing industries, data vary from sound accounting to estimating intermediate consumption using fixed shares of output. - New reliable source data introduced for significant part of service industries in connection with the 2002 Data Revision. - Estimation process: - Each year's estimation starts from balanced data from preceding year; limited use of benchmarks. - Only about 5 percent of intermediate consumption (totals by activity) estimated from sources not normally available annually. - Structures assumed identical to preceding year as starting point, then modified during commodity flow balancing. - Periodic or irregular statistics (e.g., censuses, trade margins) introduced when available. - Major revisions: - Revised levels usually established for a benchmark year first. - 1995 Main Revision used 1988 as benchmark. - 2002 Data Revision used 1998 and 1999 as benchmarks; new benchmark levels extrapolated to other years. - Imputed rents for owner-occupied dwellings: - Calculated by stratification method of Commission Decision 95/309/EC (owner-occupied dwellings assumed same rent per square meter as rented dwellings in same strata). - Owner-occupier share in dwelling services in Norway is at least 80 percent. - Rents stratified into 15 strata: five geographic locations and three sizes of dwellings. - Treatment of work-in-progress: - Work-in-progress on modules for oil platforms treated as gross fixed capital formation. - Work-in-progress on ships treated as changes in inventories (due to practical considerations and unsettled contracts). - Crops recorded when harvested; 2002 Data Revision changed forestry production concept to include net growth in cultivated forests. - Changes in livestock for slaughter considered work-in-progress; smolt breeding in fish farming likewise. - Changes in inventories: - Result from individual changes for as many as 565 product groups. - No reliable source on total changes in inventories; scattered short-term indicators and some annual basic statistics available. - Main estimation approach: balancing supply and use for each product total; estimates often adjusted on expert judgment. - Persistent positive changes in inventories constitute a problem. - Capital stock and consumption of fixed capital: - Capital stock calculated by the perpetual inventory method. - Consumption of fixed capital by industry calculated by a geometric method. - Capital stock recently re-estimated based on geometric depreciation, reassessed service lives, and new information on gross fixed capital formation. - Change led to larger revision in consumption of fixed capital for general government than for other industries; government output and consumption increased because output equals sum of costs including consumption of fixed capital. - Service lives: - hardware, office equipment, etc.: eight years up to and including 1990 and five years from 1991. - software: four years. - Service lives aligned with other countries for these asset types. ### Procedures for compiling volume measures of GDP - Annual accounts: - Integrated set of price and volume measures compiled within the detailed supply and use table framework. - Definition relationships in current price supply and use tables maintained in constant price tables. - Norway applies double deflation method (volume measures for value added = production minus intermediate consumption). - Volume measures compiled in prices of the previous year (chain indices). - Based on time series of supply and use tables in current and previous year prices: - Laspeyres volume indices and (implicit) Paasche price compiled. - Aggregates calculated from these time series; chaining for detailed and aggregate series separately. - Year-to-year growth rates from original supply and use tables maintained at all aggregation levels. - No attempt made to impose additivity between detailed series and aggregates. - Latest final year used as reference year for time series. - Preliminary annual data and current quarterly data: - Volume measures in principle calculated with same method at more aggregated level. - Latest final annual year serves as base year (or a preliminary annual year established by same methods), so no additivity problem for these data. - Chain indices applied only for final years and for quarterly series when benchmarked on these years. - Constant price calculations: - Annual national accounts: deflate current price values by price indices at detailed level. - Quarterly accounts: rely to some extent on volume indices. - Price catalogue: - All price information used in deflation first collected in a “price catalogue” providing complete overview including time series. - For each product ideally at least: price for production to domestic market, import price, export price. - Export/import prices mainly from specially selected unit value indices from foreign trade statistics. - Prices for production to domestic market primarily from producer price index. - Consumer price index price indices used for private consumption and as producer prices (after VAT adjustment) for some services. - For many intermediate-consumption services, price data weak or missing; then use volume indicators or cost method. - Adjustments for quality changes carried out to extent included in source price data compilation. - Volume measures for trade margins and taxes/subsidies on products: - Calculated by applying percentage margins and tax rates from the previous year (final accounts) or from the base year (preliminary accounts). - Volume measures for non-market output from government and NPISHs: - Calculated as sum of deflated costs. - Compensation of employees deflated by wage rate (hourly) by employee category. - For non-market government output (except military expenditures) an annual productivity increase of 0.5 percent is assumed. ### Expenditure approach procedures - Matching between detailed products and final uses: - Reasonably good matching for 67 groups of government final consumption expenditure (classified per 1999 COFOG) based on government accounts linked to national accounts database. - Good matching between household budget survey results and 98 groups of household final consumption expenditure (classified per 1999 COICOP). - Government final consumption expenditure: about 66 types of fixed assets. - Changes in inventories mainly obtained as residuals; detailed product breakdown used to monitor and estimate changes by product, but not classified by economic activity. - Minimal reliance on fixed ratios derived from benchmark years. - Government final expenditure exclusive of incidental sales. - Household final consumption expenditures include expenses of residents abroad (included in imports) and exclude expenses of non-residents (included in exports). - Estimates of valuables are made but deemed incomplete due to insufficient source data. ### Specific quarterly compilation techniques - Quarterly national accounts use comprehensive input data sets: about 2300 series. - Main data sources: short-term statistics from SSB (price indices, index of production, quarterly investment survey, index of retail sales, foreign trade statistics, etc.) plus short-term information from other sources. - Source data arranged by QNA classification of commodities, industries, and use categories. - QNA computing system three steps: 1. Indicator compilations. 2. Harmonisation model (input-output model). 3. Result databases (for internal checks and analyses) and table programs. - Data systems programmed in FAME and TROLL. - Base year typically t-2 (most recent year with annual national accounts available, either final or preliminary). Footnote: in last few years no preliminary annual national accounts calculated; base year therefore last final annual accounts, t-3; aim to compile preliminary annual accounts again and incorporate as base year t-2. - General method: - Value in base year carried forward with growth rate of appropriate indicator or weighted set of indicators. - If indicator lacks full coverage, projection methods based on previous periods used. - Variables lacking short-term information are computed by breakdown of annual estimates into quarters (e.g., part of agricultural production). - Harmonisation model: - Input-output model assuming fixed ratios between output and intermediate consumption in most industries. - For most goods, changes in inventories obtained as residual; for services and non-inventoriable goods residuals checked and may be included in "changes in inventories and statistical discrepancies." - Adjustment factors: - Not formally benchmark-to-indicator ratios as per IMF Manual, but factors of adjustment introduced to modify indicators so experiences or new information reflected in forward series; integrated in compilation process at current and constant prices. - Benchmarking: - Quarterly data benchmarked on preliminary and final annual accounts primarily using the proportional Denton method (Min D4 Method) as recommended in IMF Quarterly National Accounts Manual Chapter Six. - Other acceptable methods used where Min D4 Method cannot be applied. - Seasonal adjustment: - Series derived from seasonally unadjusted source data to provide unadjusted quarterly estimates. - Subsequent seasonal adjustment using X-12–ARIMA method. - Both unadjusted and seasonally adjusted quarterly accounts data are published. ### 3.2.2 Other statistical procedures (data adjustments, transformations, analysis) - Procedures developed to adjust data sources to improve coverage, definitions, classifications, and valuation to conform to international guidelines. - Explicit adjustments for exhaustiveness: - Made in connection with the Main Revision 1995 and subsequently on a current basis. - Total adjustments to basic sources to cover the unrecorded economy amount to 2-3 percent of GDP. - Adjustments take into account the EU Commission Decision on Exhaustiveness and special task-force areas. - Special areas covered include best practices for exhaustive estimates in construction and distribution and use of household budget surveys for these estimates. *Source: _cr03207 - 3.2 Statistical techniques* ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data ### _cr03207 - 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data ### Assessment and validation of source data - Source data (censuses, sample surveys, administrative records) are routinely assessed for coverage, sample error, response error, and non-sampling error; results are monitored and made available to guide planning. - Systematic information about sampling errors in data sources used for the national accounts is available only to a limited extent. - Various types of information about non-sampling errors are available, including: over/under coverage, misclassifications, measurement problems, and non-response. - Information is available about imputation methods for non-response in surveys and percentages of source data imputed. - National accounts compilers maintain close contact with producers of source data and regularly review and assess source data together with producers; budgetary data, international trade, price statistics, and other secondary sources are routinely assessed. ### Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs - Main intermediate data are validated against other primary/secondary sources where applicable; checks are reinforced by systematic use of the commodity flow method. - Statistical discrepancies in intermediate data are routinely assessed and investigated; appropriate adjustments are made to remove discrepancies. - Supply and use framework is used to investigate discrepancies and make statistical outputs consistent. - Changes in inventories by product (basically calculated as residuals) are used as indicators of problems in basic data. - Existing and new data sources are continuously studied and compared to the national accounts to identify possible biases; the 2002 Data Revision resulted from such a process and concluded that over some years a downward bias had developed in the GDP estimate. ### Revision studies - Studies and analyses of revisions are carried out for major revisions: - The 1995 Main Revision included detailed analyses subdividing changes into those caused by new definitions and classifications (formal changes) and those caused by new or improved source data (real changes). - Similar analyses were carried out for the 2002 Data Revision. - During current compilation of quarterly and annual national accounts, direction and magnitude of revisions between versions are examined, which may lead to changes in use of source data. - Systematic studies of current revisions for routine use in the compilation process are not conducted. ### Serviceability — Relevance - SSB organizes a users' committee for national accounts and balance of payments statistics including government ministries, Norges Bank, universities, and the private sector; it meets approximately once a year (most recently in October 2002). - No formal user survey has been conducted by SSB, but high levels of informal contact (telephone, e-mail) exist; the Research Department provides strong linkage between compilers and users. - A survey conducted with this ROSC assessment shows national accounts data are widely used and generally rated favorably; some users express dissatisfaction with information about revisions (notably the 2002 Data Revision) and with timeliness (presumably for QNA). - About one third of respondents were not satisfied with access to metadata. - Legal obligations to report to the EU have substantially determined the national accounts program (scope, timeliness, other quality aspects); Eurostat and the European Commission are important users. - Lack of resources in SSB led to Norges Bank compiling and reporting annual financial transaction accounts and balance sheets to Eurostat, although final financial balance sheets are compiled in SSB. - Norwegian national accountants maintain a long tradition of international cooperation and technical assistance. ### Serviceability — Timeliness and periodicity - Quarterly national accounts timeliness: published with a timeliness of five weeks for Q1 and nine weeks for Q1, Q2, and Q3, and thus within the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) requirement of three months. - From 2003 onwards Q4 will be published with a timeliness of about 10 weeks. - National accounts are compiled on a quarterly basis, meeting SDDS periodicity requirements. ### Serviceability — Consistency - Annual national accounts compiled within an integrated system (SNA-NT application) covering integrated economic accounts for institutional sectors, supply and use tables, input-output tables, tourism satellite account, and monthly balance of payments; an integrated set of price and volume measures (chain indices) is compiled within annual supply and use tables. - The change in inventory component is called “changes in stocks and statistical discrepancies” because changes in inventories are primarily obtained as residuals in the commodity flow system balancing. - Chaining in constant price calculation is carried out separately for all items; components do not necessarily add to totals due to chain indices as recommended in the 1995 ESA and required by Eurostat reporting. - Quarterly accounts compiled within an integrated but more aggregated system (without institutional sector accounts); concepts, definitions, and classifications match the annual accounts. - Quarterly series are benchmarked to annual data for years with independent annual estimates; series compiled in prices of the latest final year, then later benchmarked series follows chain-indexed series for annual accounts; seasonal adjustment and benchmarking imply published quarterly data do not necessarily show internal consistency between activity and expenditure components. - Following the 2002 Data Revision (released June 2002): - Annual series back to 1991 and quarterly series carried back to 1999 were released in June 2002. - Consistent time series for annual accounts back to 1970 (for institutional accounts to 1978) were published in November 2002. - Quarterly accounts back to 1991 were planned for publication in January 2003; quarterly accounts may later be carried back to 1978 at a more aggregated level. - Results following the 1995 Main Revision: - First round annual data back to 1988; in 1997 data revised back to 1978; in 2000 further back to 1970. - Quarterly accounts were revised back to 1978. - For the whole period the 1995 ESA definitions were implemented; series were recoded to NACE, Rev. 1. - Annual data were revised back to 1970 at the most detailed level in supply and use tables, including new constant price calculations (chain indices); maintenance of consistent time series at this level of detail for more than 30 years attributed to an integrated and highly computerized compilation system. - National accounts statistics are consistent with balance of payments statistics compiled in DNA and government finance statistics compiled in DPCS. - Significant differences exist between net lending/borrowing by institutional sector obtained from the capital account in SSB and from financial transaction accounts published by Norges Bank. ### Serviceability — Revision policy and practice - Revision cycle for Norwegian annual and quarterly national accounts is predetermined and reasonably stable; it is made known to the public on the SSB website in the “About the Statistics” section (though not presented very transparently). - Timetable for releases and the revision cycle are described in Official Statistics of Norway publications and documentation reports, but not always shown in Economic Surveys that contain hard copy releases. - New source data are incorporated as early as possible if they do not lead to significant breaks; otherwise introduction in levels is postponed to the following main revision, with new source data used as indicators for growth rates in the interim. - Following the 2002 Data Revision, SSB aims at main revisions with five–seven years interval in the future. - Revision schedule is primarily governed by availability of source data; timeliness of releases in April and September is critical for the Ministry of Finance budget process. - Preliminary data are identified in release text as preliminary and subject to revision, but not specially labeled; most quarterly releases contain preliminary data. - Revised data are disseminated with the same level of detail as previously published for the data being revised. - The 1995 Main Revision and the 2002 Data Revision are well documented; revisions are explained in detail and separated into formal and real causes. - Very comprehensive documentation published in 1996 for the 1995 Main Revision (about 600 pages updated regularly); 2002 Data Revision documented in several SSB reports explaining reasons and background for large revisions in some years. - No ongoing published analysis of preliminary versus revised data to assess reliability of preliminary data; some comments on extent and causes of revisions are made in current releases. - The latest published study on relationships between preliminary and final annual data was published in 1990 and refers to the period 1972–87. - SSB assessed that revision studies comparing pre-revision growth rates to growth rates after major revisions would be of only limited relevance. ### Accessibility — Data accessibility - First release of national accounts data at 10.00 a.m. on the pre-announced release day on the website is a two–three page press release (“Statistics of the Day”) containing summary tables and explanatory text, including references to revisions; quarterly data are seasonally adjusted. - More detailed tables and longer time series are available on the website; somewhat later data are published in hard copy in Economic Survey which includes forecasts for the next two–three years based on the KVARTS economic model run by SSB Research Department. - An annex in Economic Survey contains very detailed (not seasonally adjusted) tables and a comprehensive text analyzing seasonally adjusted quarterly accounts in connection with forecasts. - Primary dissemination media is the SSB website; data are also published in hard copy in Economic Survey and in Official Statistics of Norway in identical Norwegian and English versions. Separate publications exist for: - Annual accounts: Production, Uses and Employment, and Institutional Sector Accounts. - Quarterly accounts: Quarterly National accounts: Production, Uses and Employment. - Statistikbanken (Statistics Bank) is being developed on the SSB website to offer user-determined tabulations of SSB time series via the Internet; it will be extended to national accounts data during the first half of 2003. - An advance release calendar covering the next four months is permanently updated on the SSB website. - According to SSB Annual Report 2001, 87 percent of all statistics were released at the announced time in 2001; for national accounts the percentage was 100. - The same schedule is available on the DSBB on a quarter-ahead basis. - Statistical series are released simultaneously to all users on the SSB website at 10.00 a.m. on the pre-announced date. - Non-published (but non-confidential) sub-aggregates (e.g., supply and use tables, input-output tables) can be obtained from SSB on request; a fee may be charged and contact persons are named on the website and in hard copy publications. ### Accessibility — Metadata accessibility - Metadata on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques are available and differences from international standards are annotated. - Metadata are disseminated via websites and statistical publications and their availability is well publicized. - Metadata for national accounts are available in summary form in the “About the Statistics” sections on the SSB website and for quarterly accounts on the DSBB summary page. - Comprehensive documentation is found in specialized Documents and Reports series; Reports series is freely available on the SSB website; a considerable share of documentation is in English. - Metadata include information on concepts, definitions, classification, methodology, data sources, statistical techniques, weaknesses in data sources, possible biases, and linkages with other major data systems. - Documentation has been developed to educate users about national accounts contents and compilation methods. - Despite these practices, about one third of respondents to the ROSC user survey were not satisfied with access to national accounts metadata. ### Accessibility — Assistance to users - Contact persons for each subject field are publicized in all statistical releases; complaints exist that some e-mail addresses are sometimes invalid and responses are not always forthcoming. - The SSB website indexes current and previous issues of quarterly and annual releases and related time series tabulations. - A catalogue of SSB publications is produced annually listing paper publications (including national accounts), but it does not list web-only publications such as "Statistics of the Day". - The SSB website includes information on publication prices and charging policy for supply of nonpublished data. *Source: _cr03207 - 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data* ### 0. Pre-requisites of quality 0.1 Legal and institutional environment ### _cr03207 - 0. Pre-requisites of quality 0.1 Legal and institutional environment ### 0. Prerequisites of quality — Legal and institutional environment - Compilation and dissemination of statistics governed by the Statistics Act of 16 June 1989, No. 54. - Section 3-1: Statistics Norway (SSB) is the central body for production and dissemination of official statistics and bears main responsibility to promote the efficient production of appropriate statistics. - Section 4-1: SSB is a professionally autonomous institution; administratively under the Ministry of Finance (MOF); general work program and budget decided by the Parliament. - SSB publishes information about the Statistics Act in a booklet in Norwegian and English. - SSB produces and disseminates the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as part of official statistics; the Act does not explicitly mention the CPI or other specific statistics. - SSB is part of the European Statistical System and produces and disseminates a significant share of its data according to legal requirements within that system. - Under Section 3-1 SSB bears the main responsibility for international statistical cooperation. ### 0.1 Data sharing, confidentiality, and compulsory reporting - Section 3-3 of the Statistics Act authorizes SSB to coordinate statistical activities; CPI data collection, processing, and compilation are done within SSB (no inter-agency data-sharing issues). - Confidentiality: Sections 2-4 and 2-6 prohibit SSB from publishing or disclosing data from which individual persons or firms can be identified; researchers may be granted access under strict rules and conditions. - Norwegian Data Inspectorate guidelines provide framework for internal and management data security. - Confidential aggregations that may reveal sensitive data are treated as confidential; decisions are made case by case. - Enforcement: disciplinary action including dismissal and fines apply for breaches; no violations of confidentiality for CPI data have occurred. - Respondents are informed in writing about rights/obligations; information assured for statistical purposes only. - Mandatory reporting and penalties: Sections 2-2 and 2-3 provide for mandatory reporting and penalties. Across SSB about 7,000 cases annually involve fines for non-compliance. - CPI-specific compliance: reporting for the CPI is mandatory. In 2001, there were 103 firms that were fined 1,965 Kroners each for not reporting. - Voluntary surveys: SSB uses incentives to encourage participation (example: Household Budget Survey (HBS) families are paid 300 Kroners to participate). ### 0.2 Resources (staff, financial, computing) - Annual CPI resource use: About 13 staff years are used annually on CPI processes. - Division of Economic Indicators: 8 staff years; of these: - 5 are full time staff with university degrees; - 2 are staff with internal training whose functions are equivalent to professional staff. - Allocation within the 8 staff years: monthly CPI review (3), research projects (2), information technology (IT) issues (1), coordination of outlet contact and price collection (1). - Additional staff: 2 professional staff work part-time (one staff year) on CPI sampling issues. - Other SSB Divisions contribute 5 staff equivalents: 2 involved in the HBS, 2 or 3 in initiating new outlets and collecting rents, and 1 in data entry for CPI questionnaires. - Staff turnover: currently not a problem in the CPI; periodic substantial turnover in the past; staff retention problem exists in other SSB areas. - Technology: high level of computer technology; individual work stations; many computer-assisted edit routines; expansion to CATI for housing survey, electronic scanning of forms, electronic transfer of scanner data from grocery chain stores. - Overall assessment: staff, computing, and financial resources are adequate for producing the CPI. ### 0.2.2 Efficiency measures and process management - Management promotes efficient use of resources as described in the publication Strategy 2002. - Process measurement and resource usage monitors exist for the CPI program. - Production schedules based on announced CPI release dates are set a year in advance and adhered to monthly. - Monthly review meetings of all CPI staff discuss process and problems; post-release meeting assesses the prior month’s cycle. - Annual review process assesses resource efficiency and staff time allocation across CPI activities. - Continuous testing of new technology: CATI in rent survey, electronic data transfer, collection of electricity prices via the internet. ### 0.3 Quality awareness and quality management - Quality framework: “systematic quality work” inspired by Total Quality Management (TQM); dimensions discussed in Annual Report and Strategy 2002; individual statistics quality criteria documented in “About the Statistics” on SSB website. - Engagement with external bodies: SSB participates in Eurostat’s task force on quality indicators and exchanges methods and technology with other statistical institutions. - Implementation timeline and training: - Systematic quality work started in 2001 and encompasses all activities and employees. - Management commitment secured through seminars and training schemes. - All directors, heads of divisions, and office heads (about 50) have been given two days of training. - During 2001, SSB trained 18 so-called quality pilots; another 20 quality pilots are being trained in 2002. - CPI-specific quality projects: - Early adopter of TQM within SSB (participated in 1998-99); initially used International Standardization Organization methodology, later adopted TQM. - Two current CPI quality improvement projects: use of scanner data for food prices and as source of weights for annual weight update; documentation of various CPI monthly processes to create operational manuals. - Two planned CPI projects: estimating CPI measures of variance with Survey Methods Division; investigating improved weights using national accounts data (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, yeast). ### 0.3 Monitoring and user input - Monitoring: status tables track data flow and completion for each production process (data collection, data entry, micro data review, macro data review, dissemination). - CPI staff meet weekly; immediate post-release meeting held to assess production success. - Advisory Committee for Price Statistics: consists of government ministries, labor organizations, trade associations, and academia; meets annually to review CPI program and advise on user needs and program changes. - Examples of program changes resulting from user input: consideration of regional CPIs; implemented series adjusted for effects of energy and effects of taxes. ### 1. Integrity — Professionalism, transparency, and ethics - Professional independence: - Statistics Act ensures professional independence of SSB and authority to determine official statistics for government. - No evidence of undue pressure or interference by other agencies; code of professional conduct exists and is practiced (Staff Policies: Values, Aims and Principles). - No evidence of political influence on the SSB Director General. - Current Director General: has been in SSB for 34 years and has been in his current position for about 12 years. - Staff development and publication: - CPI staff receive training in statistics, computer processing, team work, and management; university training available; substantial on-the-job training typically via mentors. - Staff encouraged to do research and publish; agency review process exists for published research. - IMF’s user survey and a Norwegian survey indicate SSB has a high reputation. - Source and technique selection: - Decisions on data sources and statistical techniques are based on best practice and state-of-the-art methods; agency-wide decisions consider costs and productivity. - CPI methods follow draft CPI Manual and Eurostat recommendations: use of geometric means for elementary indices, annual chaining, introduction of COICOP classification. - Right to correct misuse: - SSB is entitled to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of official statistics and has done so (Head of Division of Economic Indicators has provided written commentary to news media when necessary). ### 1.2 Transparency (public access and pre-release access) - Documentation availability: complete set of documents on how SSB executes statistical programs available on SSB website; see Annual Report 2001 and SSB CPI webpage; summary metadata on IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB). - Pre-release access: no access by government officials outside SSB to CPI statistics prior to release; strict non-differential treatment of users described on DSBB and Annual Report 2001 (page 46). - Within SSB: Director of the Department of Economic Statistics receives CPI release the afternoon prior to release; Director General receives the press release at 8:00 a.m. on the morning of the release. - Product identification: all SSB publications are identified as SSB products; joint publications clearly identify joint producers; SSB requests users to identify SSB as the source when reproducing data. - Advance notice of changes: advance notice provided for major methodological/source/technique changes; changes discussed with Advisory Committee up to 12 months in advance; articles published on CPI web page 4–8 weeks in advance in normal cases. - Examples: 1999 introduction of geometric averaging and COICOP; change from quarterly to monthly rent survey collection. - Minor changes: advance notice of several weeks on CPI website with link in press release. ### 1.3 Ethical standards - Employment and secrecy: - Employment contract references general civil servant rules, obligation to obtain permission for secondary jobs that may interfere with duty of loyalty, and requires a “declaration of secrecy.” - Employees receive the booklet Staff policy in SSB: Values, Aims and Principles on internal website; documents revised within the past two years and employees given new contracts to sign. - In CPI, managers periodically discuss ethical code because of CPI sensitivity. ### 2. Methodological soundness — CPI methodology and revisions - Major revision in 1999 to comply with European Union (EU) standards and recommendations; changed reference year to 1998=100. - Methodological changes introduced in 1999: - Geometric means introduced to calculate elementary index series. - COICOP classification system introduced. - Index formula and weighting: - CPI has been produced as an annual chain index since 1982 with new weights and products introduced every year in August. - Revision studies: - Revision studies are undertaken for major revisions but not on a routine basis. *Source: _cr03207 - 0. Pre-requisites of quality 0.1 Legal and institutional environment* ### 2.1 Concepts and definitions ### 2.1 Concepts and definitions ### Concepts and definitions - The national CPI concepts and definitions are generally in line with the specifications recommended in the 1995 European System of Accounts (ESA 95). - Main departures from ESA 95: - Insurance expenditure weights represent gross expenditures by households on insurance premiums rather than net expenditures (premiums less benefits). - Recording of service prices occurs in the month for which consumption at the observed price commences, not the month in which the actual price is paid (example: annual highway toll fees paid in November but not reflected until January). - Exclusion of illegal goods and services (stated as standard practice and in agreement with specific EU regulations for price statistics). ### Scope - SSB compiles the national CPI as the key measure of inflation in Norway and calculates the Norway HICP for Eurostat; both indices are derived from the same source data and the HICP is compiled according to EU standards. - Uses: economic analysis and escalation of pensions and contracts. - No regional or city indices are produced; the CPI described is the national CPI produced by SSB. - SSB compiles a sub-aggregate CPI-ATE (adjusted to exclude the effects of taxes and energy) in part for use by Norges Bank in their inflation targeting regime. - Population coverage and exclusions: - CPI covers expenditures of all resident, non-institutional households (both urban and rural), except for those whose head of household is 80 years or older. - CPI reflects purchases of all goods and services offered to households in Norway including shelter services of owner-occupied dwellings. - Includes own-account production of goods and services for own final consumption; excludes illegally sold goods and services. ### Classification / sectorization - Institutional units and transactions classified using ESA 95. - Household expenditure classified by COICOP; further refined with an added 5th digit for grouping products in the HBS. - Norwegian industrial classification SIC94 (derived from NACE rev. 1) used for classification of retail outlets in the business register. ### Basis for recording - Valuation: - Goods and services in the consumer basket are valued at market purchasers’ prices including VAT, except consumption for own use valued at market producers’ prices. - Timing (accrual basis): - Prices are recorded for the 15th of the reference month and collected monthly for most items. - Some items collected quarterly (e.g., car insurance, newspaper subscriptions); some twice per year (e.g., kindergarten fees, after school activities, sporting activity fees, dental services); others once per year (e.g., television license fees, cable TV fees, new boats). - Services recorded when actually consumed (e.g., road tolls). - Grossing/netting: - Weights for used cars calculated using net weights (purchases less sales). - Weights for car insurance based on premiums paid rather than net premiums (premiums-benefits). ### Source data and data collection - Registers and frames: - SSB maintains a comprehensive housing register (updated regularly) as sampling frame for the annual HBS. - SSB maintains a business register with industry codes and annual turnover; retail trade industries serve as sampling frame for CPI outlet sample. - Household Budget Survey (HBS): - Conducted monthly using 26 panels of households surveyed every two weeks. - Geographic stratification: 109 geographic strata; all municipalities with 30,000 or more inhabitants included; for remaining strata the largest municipality in each is selected. - Two-stage sampling: geographic strata then selection of individual households from population register (individuals under 80, not institutionalized). - Sample size: approximately 2,200 households participate throughout the year, averaging 85 per two-week period. - Non-response rate: about 50 percent. - Each sampled household maintains a diary of purchases for a two week period and participates in an interview to recall major purchases during the 12 months prior. - Expenditure information collected for 840 items classified into 5-digit COICOP categories. - SSB uses a three-year average of HBS expenditure estimates to provide national CPI item weights. - Note: CPI has 911 items while HBS has 840 items; some HBS expenditures are further refined using additional information (trade associations, scanner data). - Outlet and price sample: - Sample of outlets per municipality selected from business register using probability proportionate to size of turnover; approximately 2,200 outlets in the sample. - Outlet sample rotated on a six year cycle; new outlets introduced in March. - Field staff visit each new outlet to explain reporting and identify CPI items; initial month field visit to assist questionnaire completion; subsequent months questionnaire mailed to respondent. - Prices reported are those as of the 15th of the month. - For grocery stores, SSB receives electronic scanner data from the four largest chains; scanner data report weekly prices that include the 15th and the price used is the average for the week. - Monthly price observations: approximately 45,000. - Rental survey: - Separate monthly survey of rental units with about 1,300 responses from tenants; sample of tenants selected from the 2001 Housing and Population Census. - Ad hoc surveys and investigations: - Used to supplement CPI and HBS information (examples: special question on energy usage in HBS; survey of personal computer sales; survey of financial institutions). ### Source data quality, timeliness, and adjustments - Coordination: HBS and CPI data closely coordinated (definitions, scope, classifications, time of recording, valuation). - Adjustments: Some municipal fees adjusted to add VAT to reflect correct purchasers’ price. - Under-reporting concerns: Expenditures on tobacco, alcohol, yeast, and mobile phones in HBS are not adjusted for potential under reporting; CPI staff investigating alternative source data. - Timeliness: - HBS expenditure estimates for the most recent calendar year available by end of June. - CPI staff use most recent and two prior years to develop expenditure share weights and decide on basket changes. - Lagged data: - Some home repair prices lagged; quarterly wage indices for painters, plumbers, carpenters lagged by one quarter; prices for cement and other home repair material taken from construction cost index and lagged by one month. ### Statistical techniques and index compilation - Weights and item structure: - HBS provides national weights at all COICOP levels and for national 5th digit extension. - CPI items: 911 items; HBS: 840 items — CPI items taken directly, combined, or split from HBS items; additional source data used where needed. - Rental value of owner-occupied dwellings taken from rent survey. - Goods and services valued at actual prices paid by households; consumer finance charges included as separate CPI item; own final consumption valued at producers’ prices. - Formula and aggregation: - Since 1999 a geometric mean formula used for elementary indices. - Current transaction price compared to July price to form long-term price relative; unweighted geometric average of these price relatives calculated for each item at regional level. - Each CPI item assigned to one of 15 retail industries (except nationally priced items); regional weights from business register used to weight item price relatives across regions using a weighted arithmetic average to obtain national index for the item. - National indices are annual chained indices using fixed weights from the three previous calendar years. - New weights introduced in August; new July-based index linked to old 1998=100 index. - Treatment of missing and discontinued prices: - Temporarily missing prices imputed using short-term price change for similar products within region or nationally depending on number of observations (minimum of three) available at regional level. - Observations imputed for more than three months are dropped and replacement transactions sought. - Missing seasonal items’ prices imputed as average of observed prices during in-season months (example: in-season January through May, average of those five months used for remaining months). - Permanently discontinued observations: outlets requested to select replacement transactions for varieties of same quality; if replacement dissimilar, outlet asked to provide detailed information on differences. - Annual basket update: new items added and old items dropped in August each year. ### Accuracy, validation, and revisions - Sampling errors and non-response: - Sampling errors for HBS expenditure data available at 4-digit COICOP level and above; published in Survey of Consumer Expenditures, 1997-99. - HBS non-response rate about 50 percent; imputation procedures for non-response used appropriately. - Post-enumeration surveys in HBS conducted on sample basis and reveal surveys are accurate. - High non-response indicates potential bias; best practice suggests a non-response follow-up survey but SSB cites Data Inspectorate rules prohibiting re-contact of households refusing voluntary surveys. - SSB might consider mandatory reporting for HBS if feasible. - For the price survey, sampling errors not available at this time; variance calculation planned in work plan for calendar 2003. - Price survey non-response rate about five percent. - Editing and verification: - Substantial computerized editing procedures capture outliers and unusual price changes. - Respondents usually provide comments on the CPI questionnaire for unusual price changes; these are reviewed monthly and follow-up taken to verify changes. - Validation and consistency checks: - CPI data regularly compared with similar component series from the PPI for analytical checking. - Regular CPI review process investigates large or unusual changes in aggregate indices; reasons documented using component analysis and secondary data (e.g., energy, petroleum, electricity prices; trade associations). - Two independent aggregation checks: items aggregated by COICOP classification (4, 3, 2, and 1-digit) and items aggregated by delivery sectors (agriculture, fish, other domestic consumer goods, imported consumer goods, rent, other services) using same item weights. - Revisions: - CPI weights revised every year in August using HBS data from the three previous years. - As part of each revision, effects of new weights on published indices are calculated and explained in an article or note for the press release. - When major methodological changes occur (example: 1999), detailed analysis of effects on classification, methodology, and weights are prepared and used to guide future decisions. ### Relevance and user engagement - Advisory Committee on Price Statistics meets annually to discuss program content and changes and provides input on user satisfaction and needs. - SSB conducted a user survey in 1997; users were satisfied with CPI program. Interest noted in regional indices but SSB determined implementation too costly. - User survey for the ROSC assessment indicates general satisfaction with timeliness, accuracy, coverage, and level of detail; some users would like more detailed CPI items published. - SSB participation in international forums: - CPI staff are regular participants in Eurostat meetings and ECE/ILO biannual meeting on Consumer Prices. - Occasional contributions to Ottawa Group meetings on price measurement issues. *Content derived from: _cr03207 - 2.1 Concepts and definitions* ### 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity ### _cr03207 - 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity ### 4.2.1 Timeliness follows dissemination standards - The CPI is published about the 10th of the month, which is better than SDDS requirements. ### 4.2.2 Periodicity follows dissemination standards - The CPI is published monthly according to the SDDS requirement. *Source: _cr03207 - 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity* ### 1. Integrity ### 1. Integrity ### 1.1 Professionalism — key findings - Legal and institutional independence: - The Statistics Act ensures the professional independence of SSB and provides it with the authority to determine the official statistics for the government. - No evidence of other agencies placing undue pressure or interfering with SSB in its compilation and dissemination of official statistics. - No evidence of political influence being placed on the SSB Director General. - Leadership tenure and reputation: - The current Director General has been in SSB for over 34 years and has been in his current position for about 12 years. - The IMF’s user survey conducted with this ROSC (Appendix III) and a Norwegian survey indicate that SSB has a high reputation. - Staff ethics and professionalism: - A code of professional conduct for staff exists, is known and practiced, and is available on the SSB internal website and in print (Staff policies: Values, Aims and Principles). - Employment contracts include references to general civil servant rules, an obligation to obtain special permission for secondary jobs that may interfere with the “duty of loyalty,” and a separate “declaration of secrecy.” - The booklet Staff policy in SSB: Values, Aims and Principles is provided to employees and discussed periodically by managers in the PPI context. - Training and development: - PPI staff receive training in statistics and computer processing; training is also available in team work and management. - University training is available; substantial on-the-job training is provided, usually through the use of mentors. - Staff are encouraged to do research and publish, but currently have very little time to do so; an agency review process exists for published research. - SSB’s Strategy 2002 (page 8 and pages 39-41) commits to enhancing professionalism via task adjustments, incentives for personal development, human resources strategy, rotation of staff, and cooperation with universities. - Impartial methodological choices: - Decisions on data sources and statistical techniques are made by applying best practice and state-of-the-art methods, with agency-wide choices based on costs and productivity. - PPI methods follow the draft PPI Manual (IMF website) and Eurostat recommendations: geometric means for elementary indices, annual chaining of the PPI, introduction of NACE. - Hedonic models have been developed for computers and washing machines for quality adjustments. - Right to comment on misuse: - SSB is entitled to comment on erroneous interpretations and misuse of official statistics and has exercised that right in other programs; no serious misinterpretation of the PPI has occurred. ### 1.2 Transparency — key findings and practice - Publication of terms and metadata: - The complete set of documents describing SSB’s statistical programs is available to the public on the SSB website (see Annual Report 2001). - Additional summary metadata on the SSB program is available on the IMF’s Data Dissemination Bulletin Board (DSBB). - Pre-release access: - There is no access by government officials outside SSB to PPI statistics prior to release. - The website release ensures a strict policy of non-differential treatment of PPI users; ministries and all other users are treated equally (policy described on the DSBB). - Within SSB, the Director of the Department of Economic Statistics does not receive the PPI release until the afternoon prior to the release; the Director General receives the press release at 8:00 a.m. on the morning of release. - Product identification: - All SSB publications are identified as being produced by SSB; joint publications clearly identify SSB and other agencies. SSB requests that users identify SSB as the source when reproducing its statistics. - Advance notice of methodological changes: - No formal PPI policy currently exists for advance notice of major changes in methodology, source data, or statistical techniques. - Several months advance notice was given in 2000 for changes introduced in January 2001 (geometric averaging, annual chaining, NACE). - Recommendation recorded: consider an advance notice policy similar to the CPI—6-month notice for major revisions and changes and several weeks for minor revisions. ### 1.3 Ethical standards — key findings - Staff behavioral guidelines: - Employment contracts and a “declaration of secrecy” are signed by all new staff; these documents were revised within the past two years and new contracts issued. - Ethical code is widely known (including in universities) and managers discuss it periodically, especially when requests are received for unpublished or confidential data. - Practical reinforcement: - Discussions of ethical code occur in the PPI, and staff reported prior knowledge of SSB ethical standards before employment. --- ### 2. Methodological Soundness ### Major revisions and coverage - Major revision implemented in January 2001: - New classification system SIC94 (derivative of NACE rev. 1) introduced to conform with EU regulation 1165/98. - New headline index introduced: commodity price index for the industrial sectors (VPPI). - Geometric averaging introduced for elementary indices; annual chaining of the PPI; weights updated annually in January. - VPPI recalculated back to 1995 using new features; the PPI old series (1981=100) ends December 2000; revised PPI series begins January 2001 on reference period 2000=100. - This assessment covers the VPPI. - VPPI reference and history: - The VPPI has a reference period of 2000=100 going back to January 1995. ### 2.1 Concepts and definitions - International alignment: - VPPI concepts and definitions align with the 1995 European System of Accounts (ESA 95) as amended by EU regulations on Short-Term Statistics. - Notable departures and conformances: - Ex-factory (factory gate) prices are collected; these differ from basic prices by any per unit subsidy (not prevalent in Norway). - Production of illegal goods excluded; prices recorded at time of order rather than time of shipment (conformance with EU regulation 588/2001). ### 2.2 Scope - Indices compiled: - SSB compiles three indices using similar procedures/source data: VPPI, PPI, and price index of first hand domestic sales (PIF) (historically the WPI). - VPPI and PPI measure change in output prices for domestically produced goods in mining, manufacturing, and energy supply, including exported goods. - PIF measures output price change for domestic market sample and includes a sample of imported goods. - Coverage specifics: - VPPI conforms to EU regulation 1165/98 coverage: includes commodities produced within oil and gas extraction, mining, manufacturing, and energy supply, except publishing, manufacture of weapons and ammunition, and building and repairs of ships and boats (the exclusion of ships and boats is significant to Norway’s economy). - VPPI excludes own-account production, services, illegal goods; separate indices are produced for construction activities and some business-related services. ### 2.3 Classification/sectorization - Classifications used: - ESA 95 for institutional units and transactions. - CPA-NA (national derivative of Eurostat CPA) to 6-digit level; Harmonized System (HS) to 8-digit level. - Norwegian industrial classification SIC94 (derived from NACE rev. 1) for business register establishments. - End-use classification for Main Industrial Groupings required by EU regulation 586/2001. ### 2.4 Basis for recording - Valuation: - Weights and prices valued at market prices—ex factory prices excluding VAT, other taxes on products, and separately invoiced transport charges; export prices are f.o.b. - Recording convention: - Prices recorded at the time of order as required by EU regulation 588/2001. - Prices refer to the 15th of the reference month and are collected monthly; collection forms include detailed transaction specifications reviewed monthly by respondents. - Grossing/netting: - Not applicable—no indices require net weights. --- ### 3. Accuracy and Reliability ### 3.1 Source data — key facts and procedures - Sampling frames and registers: - SSB maintains a comprehensive business register with up-to-date industry codes and annual turnover data. - Division for External Trade maintains a sampling frame for importers and exporters using Customs forms. - Business Register and exporter records serve as the sampling frame for the VPPI outlet sample. - Weight derivation and data sources: - VPPI weights derived from national accounts production account estimates, PRODCOM survey, and Customs export data. - Final annual production accounts for 1999 produced total output measures at 6-digit CPA-NA level for VPPI sectors. - More current production account data for 2000 and 2001 available only from quarterly accounts at 2-digit NACE level. - Annual PRODCOM survey based on a sample of 2,250 establishments provides production estimates to 8-digit level (most recent PRODCOM estimates are for 2001). - Export totals by 8-digit HS available from foreign trade statistics; export data subtracted from total output estimates to derive domestic-use weights. - Current-year weight construction: - PPI staff use most recent year’s quarterly national account totals (including a projection for the fourth quarter) distributed to 6-digit CPA-NA using fixed ratios from latest annual production account estimates. - Fixed ratios from latest PRODCOM results allocate derived 6-digit weights to 8-digit CPA commodity level weights; output weights mapped to HS 8-digit; domestic use weights derived by subtracting export totals. - Process conducted annually to derive VPPI weights for the previous calendar year; preliminary national accounts output estimates used for most recent weight update; revised weights introduced each January and used to revise prior years’ VPPI indices—VPPI indices could be revised backwards for several years and, with a major national accounts revision, back to January 1995. - Price survey coverage and sample: - Monthly price survey collects data from about 900 establishments covering over 4,000 products. - Product coverage represented by the price survey is over 80 percent of industrial commodity output (most important missing products: ships and boats). - Coverage of industrial activities exceeds 80 percent of value added (building and repair of ships and boats the largest missing industry). - Initial establishment sample selected using probability proportionate to size (pps); all establishments over 100 employees selected with certainty; establishments with fewer than 10 employees excluded; household unincorporated enterprises excluded. - CPA selection was judgmental by PPI analysts to represent significant commodities; PRODCOM used to supplement coverage where needed; exporters increasingly supplemented in the sample (all establishments with 100 or more employees in export sample added). - Field operations: each new establishment receives a questionnaire with HS product descriptions and instructions; prices reported are those as of the 15th of the month. - Each month establishments report approximately 6,000 price observations for the VPPI. - Ad hoc surveys and special data sources: - Ad hoc inquiries conducted for personal computers and washing machines to develop hedonic models for quality adjustments. - Investigation into energy prices led to use of prices from Nord Pool. ### 3.1.2 Approximation to required definitions and timing - Source data meet definition, scope, classification, valuation, and timing requirements for the VPPI. - Acknowledged minor lags for some commodities (e.g., capital goods) between time of order and time of shipment; these have limited effect on output-share weights. ### 3.1.3 Timeliness of source data - Price survey timetables: - Questionnaires sent to respondents on the 10th of the month and returned on the 18th of the month. - By the time VPPI estimates are compiled early in the following month, 97 percent of the sample has been reported and used. - Lagged price series: - Some prices using export unit value data are lagged by one month (fish, pulp, scrap metal). - Weights timing: - Preliminary national accounts output estimates used for current weights include estimates for first three quarters and a forecast for the fourth quarter. - Export data used for weights relate to the most recent calendar year and are available in mid January. ### 3.2 Statistical techniques — methods and handling of missing data - Aggregation and index formulas: - Geometric mean formula used to calculate elementary indices (unweighted geometric average of current transaction prices for each 8-digit HS compared to geometric average in December base price). - 8-digit HS weights used to calculate weighted arithmetic indices at 6-digit CPA and higher levels (Laspeyres-type aggregations). - VPPI indices are annual chained indices using fixed weights from the previous calendar year; new weights introduced in January and new December-based index linked to old 2000=100 index. - Imputation and missing data: - Temporarily missing prices imputed using a “donor” method: short-term price change from another observation in same HS strata randomly chosen if five or more observations exist; otherwise expand to 6-digit CPA or higher. - Extreme price changes excluded from donor method. - For missing seasonal products, imputed prices are average of observed prices during in-season months (example: if in-season is January through May, average of these five months used during remaining months). - When index cannot be calculated due to insufficient data, the short-term change from the next higher-level index is used. - For permanently discontinued observations, respondents requested to select replacement transactions of same quality; detailed differences used for quality adjustments. - Hedonic regression models used for quality adjustments for computers and washing machines. - In January each year, new products are added to VPPI structure and old products dropped. - Coverage and representativeness: - VPPI covers about 31 percent of domestic market output and 68 percent of goods exported from Norway. - Within the industrial sector the PPI covers 83 percent of domestic market output and 97 percent of goods exported. - Conformance: - Methods used to derive national account output estimates and subsequent VPPI aggregation meet internationally accepted statistical techniques and EU standards. *Source: _cr03207 - 1. Integrity* ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data ### Assessment of source data (censuses, sample surveys, administrative records) - Because of the composite nature of the weight data, no sampling errors are available. - No information on sampling errors of price changes is available for the price survey; these will be calculated as part of the new computer system. - Standard deviations for the sample of prices are periodically calculated as a check on the homogeneity of the sample within strata. - The non-response rate for the price survey is 3 percent. - Substantial computerized editing procedures are in place to capture outliers and identify unusual price changes. - Respondents usually provide comments on the VPPI questionnaire when unusual price changes occur; these comments are reviewed during monthly editing and followed up with respondents or by other means to verify such price changes. - Source data are analyzed for consistency with VPPI concepts as the VPPI is revised each year. ### Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs - VPPI data are regularly compared with similar component series from the CPI for analytical checking purposes. - Large or unusual changes in aggregate indices are investigated as part of the regular VPPI review process. - Reasons for changes are documented using analysis of component movements and secondary source data. - Example: large movements in key components such as energy can be verified by analyzing movements in petroleum and electricity prices; trade association information can provide explanatory information. - No inconsistencies reported in the overall VPPI for Norway. - The index is calculated product by product and aggregated in two ways: - Aggregation by CPA and SIC94 classification (6, 4, 3, 2, and 1-digit). - Aggregation by end-use categories (intermediate, consumer durable, consumer nondurable and capital goods) using the same product weights as in the SIC94 aggregation. ### Revision studies - VPPI weights are revised every year with data for January. - As part of each revision, PPI staff calculate the effects of the new weights on the published indices. - When major methodological changes occur (e.g., in 2001), detailed analyses of effects from changes in classification, methodology, and weights are prepared. - Analyses of revisions are used to guide future decisions on potential changes in methods and the VPPI structure. ### 4. Serviceability ### Relevance - The Advisory Committee on Price Statistics meets annually to discuss program content and changes and provides input on user satisfaction and needs. - SSB has not conducted a user survey for the PPI; a user survey for this ROSC assessment found general satisfaction with PPI timeliness, accuracy, coverage, and level of detail, with some requests for additional detail (see Appendix III). - In response to user requests, SSB added a calculator to the PPI web page to aid users in calculating percent changes over user-selected periods. - Users expressed interest in additional data detail at the 3 and 4-digit level and more historical data. - PPI staff participate in Eurostat meetings and discussions related to PPI regulations. ### Timeliness and periodicity - The VPPI is published about the 10th of the month, which is better than SDDS requirements. - The VPPI is published monthly according to SDDS requirements. ### Consistency - The all commodities VPPI by SIC94/CPA and the all sector VPPI by end use are the same. - Consistent time series are available back to January 1995 through linking the new VPPI series to previous series. - Methodological notes on the SSB website explain main breaks and discontinuities in the old PPI series. - There is a break between the old series (ending in December 2000 on a 1981=100 reference period) and the new series beginning in January 2001 with 2000=100. - Recommendations: - SSB should consider publishing a continuous time series for the old PPI by linking it to the new index with 2000=100. - Alternatively, SSB should publish the linking factors between the old and new series so users could do the conversion. - VPPI data are consistent with national account deflators for industrial goods and comparable components of the CPI. ### Revision policy and practice - VPPI weights are updated annually with the release of the January data; this was announced at the time of the 2001 revision and appears in VPPI metadata (“About the Statistics” and “Revisions”). - There is no publicized revision policy other than the statement that the VPPI is subject to revision at any time. - Recommendations: - SSB could have a more direct revision policy and publicize it more widely (e.g., hold revisions and introduce them each January). - Consider a revision policy similar to the CPI: announce minor revisions several weeks in advance and major revisions six months in advance. - There is no notice in the VPPI release that data are subject to historical revision. - VPPI has only been revised as part of the annual weight update in January to date. - SSB should consider adding a note on the first page of the VPPI press release stating that the data are subject to historical revision and when this might occur (e.g., with the weight update each January). - SSB should consider limiting revisions to once a year at the time of the annual weight update. - When major methodological changes occurred in 2001, a detailed article explaining the changes was published in the SSB journal Economic Survey covering geometric averaging, chain index (annual updating) versus fixed base index, and the new SIC94 structure. - Indices were recalculated back to January 1995 using the new methods and structure. - The results of the 2002 weight update were analyzed but not made available to users; such analysis should be published for users' benefit. ### 5. Accessibility ### Data accessibility and dissemination - VPPI data on the SSB website present clear analysis and data facilitating meaningful comparisons and analysis. - The press release structure provides analysis of monthly developments and comparisons with 12-month growth rates; tables show two-month changes, monthly changes for the last two months, and 12-month changes. - Historical time series and 12-month changes are presented for total and domestic market aggregate indices, plus 24 months of indices for major components. - Data available on the SSB website: - total VPPI (domestic and export market combined); - domestic market, separately; - 2-digit level NACE rev.1; - two 3-digit level indices; - indices for main end-use groupings. - The VPPI release is available at 10:00 a.m. on the 10th of the month. - Multiple dissemination media: internet, fax, and hard copy; primary dissemination is the SSB website. - The Weekly Bulletin and Monthly Bulletin of Statistics are available for free on the internet and are no longer available in hard copy. - SSB quarterly publications Økonomiske Analyser and Economic Survey include some PPI data and occasional PPI articles; Statistical Yearbook contains some summary annual data; these publications are on paper and on the website. - Statistics Bank (SSB website) offers user-determined tabulations of PPI time series via the internet; this facility is only available in Norwegian but will be available in English in 2003. - An Advance Release Calendar giving dates four months in advance is posted on the SSB website and the DSBB. - VPPI is released simultaneously to all users with no advance information to any users. - Additional nonpublished (but nonconfidential) subaggregates are available on request; their availability is not mentioned in the PPI release. - SSB evaluates requests for unpublished PPI data based on intended use; data for research that will not be published are generally supplied. - Other requests are evaluated on need, intended use, and likelihood the user will not release the data. - A processing fee may be charged for requested data; this policy is stated to individuals making requests but is not widely publicized. ### Metadata accessibility - A variety of metadata exist discussing VPPI details including potential biases, response rates, and relationships to other data systems; deviations from international standards are noted. - VPPI web page links to “About the Statistics” with information on scope, concepts, methods, and statistical techniques. - The DSBB contains a four-page summary methodology. - More detailed information on methods and potential bias in the VPPI will be published in the Norway Official Statistics volume Producer Price Index: 1997-2002 early in 2003. - Several reports on specific VPPI issues appear in SSB publications (Notater series and Discussion Papers). - A comprehensive methodology is not yet published but should be available next year in Norwegian on the SSB website and in hard copy. - Less elaborate descriptions are provided in Norwegian and English on the SSB website. - SSB staff are available to answer queries by telephone or e-mail, as stated on the SSB website. ### Assistance to users - The VPPI press release lists contact persons including telephone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses for user queries. - A short brochure, Presenting the PPI in Brief, is available for users. - The SSB website indexes current and previous monthly PPI releases and related tabulations of longer time series. - A catalogue of publications, Publikasjonsoversikt 2001, is available on the SSB website and in hard copy, but it does not list web-only publications such as the monthly PPI release. - The SSB website includes information on publication prices and the charging policy for supplying nonpublished data. *Source: _cr03207 - 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data* ### Section 3-3 of the Statistics Act authorizes SSB to coordinate statistical activities. In practice, ### _cr03207 - Section 3-3 of the Statistics Act authorizes SSB to coordinate statistical activities. In practice, ### Coordination, data exchange, and institutional arrangements - Section 3-3 of the Statistics Act authorizes SSB to coordinate statistical activities; in practice delineation of responsibilities is not based on legislation or regulations but on efficient and cooperative attitudes of the agencies involved. - Data are transferred between agencies in agreed formats. - Close liaison between SSB and the MOF is driven by the use of GFS in fiscal policy formulation and monitoring; SSB supplies the MOF with national accounts data including GFS. - The MOF, in cooperation with the Research Division in SSB, uses a macro-economic model for forecasting. - SSB and local governments have special arrangements for exchange of data, including the KOSTRA-project (an electronic system used by government units to collect and disseminate GFS on local governments). - SSB maintains a complete list of public units comprising subsectors of general government and routinely provides this list to other institutions for consistent classification with the national accounts definition of general government. - Many official inter-institutional working groups exist between SSB and MOF, and between SSB and local government agencies (for example, MLGRD and “Det Tekniske Beregningsutvalg”), meeting periodically on mutual issues including GFS. - GFS staff in SSB participate regularly in meetings at Eurostat and OECD on topics such as short-term GFS data, financial accounts, and tax revenues. - Hospitals are legal units. ### Confidentiality, legal mandate, and reporting timeliness - SSB treats government statistics collection and processing under the same confidentiality protections as other source data; the Statistics Act (Sections 2-4 and 2-6) provides further protection. - According to the Statistics Act (Chapter 2 and related regulations), all government agencies, bodies, and administrative offices are required and obliged to supply to SSB any data and information requested for official statistics. - SSB encourages responses via telephone calls and focus groups between SSB and MOF and between SSB and MLGRD; local government data are reported within a reasonable time frame. - For the MOF, a similar legal mandate ensures reporting of cash data collected on activities of budgetary units. - The Norwegian Constitution requires that budgetary central government agencies deliver government finance data seven times a year (for every quarter and for four month periods), and within two weeks from the reference period. - As noted, no monthly data is produced on budgetary central government operations. ### Resources: staff, computing, training, and implications of structural changes - In SSB, five to six employees compile, on a full-time basis, the macroeconomic statistics in the government finance area. - Recent decision to move activities of the central and local governments to extra-budgetary units has put a strain on existing staff because SSB must collect accounting data from these units. - New EU reporting requirements and requirements following implementation of IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM 2001) will further increase staff strain. - Despite needs, the Division for Public Finance and Credit Market Statistics (DPCS) in SSB has not been able to expand more than by 0.5-1 person each year. - SSB has three employees working directly on collection, compilation and dissemination of data on local government accounts; an additional two employees mainly handle coordination in the KOSTRA-project. - Most training in government finance statistics occurs on the job; special in-house courses update computer system knowledge and software skills; courses on accounting and national accounts are held internally and externally. - Some staff have attended accounting courses at university level with salaries paid by SSB; external MOF training on the Norwegian tax system used; workshops on concepts and methods in the public sector started; some staff have attended the IMF's courses on GFS. - Recruiting new staff is usually not difficult, but retaining skilled staff can be difficult; turnover was high in some periods such as 2000 and 2001. - The DPCS is vulnerable to staff turnover because knowledge is highly concentrated in one senior person. - In November 2002, five of the six employees in the DPCS have between six to 30 months working experience in the unit. - A modern computer system exists to collect and process data, maintain databases, receive source data automatically, and disseminate compiled statistics; the system stores bridge and derivation tables linking accounting and budgeting source data and the GFS. - Budgetary accounts format changes each year require annual updates of derivation tables. - The MOF decision to provide SSB with monthly source data on revenue, expenditure, and financing data on the budgetary central government with 3-4 weeks from the end of the reference month, starting in 2003, may require additional staff resources in the MOF. ### Resource management and efficiency - SSB management promotes mission and direction for efficient use of resources described in SSB’s publication Strategy 2002. - Use of resources is monitored through planning and recording of man-hours across product areas; distribution of man-hours is presented in the Annual Report. - SSB pursues continual improvements in resource efficiency and sets priorities among tasks. ### Quality awareness, quality monitoring, and trade-offs - Quality work in SSB is conducted within “systematic quality work”, inspired by Total Quality Management and similar institutions; quality dimensions are discussed in the Annual Report and in Strategy 2002; several quality criteria are documented in “About the Statistics” on the SSB website. - SSB exchanges experiences, methods, and technology with other statistical institutions and participates in Eurostat’s task force on quality indicators. - The systematic quality work started in 2001 and encompasses all activities and employees; commitment from all levels of management is viewed as essential. - Several seminars and training schemes for managers were carried out; all directors, heads of divisions, and office heads (about 50) received two days of training. - During 2001, SSB trained 18 so-called quality pilots who participate in improvement projects; another 20 quality pilots are being trained in 2002. - Numerous quality improvement projects take place each year throughout SSB. - Processes are in place to monitor quality of compiled and disseminated GFS: checks of coverage, classification, missing or erroneous recordings, internal consistency and consistency between alternative or linked data sources (SSB, MOF, local governments, Norges Bank, and others). - Inter-agency working groups contribute importantly to quality monitoring. - Fiscal data are compiled and audited against published accounting standards; budgetary central government accounts for each year are submitted to Parliament by the MOF in April following the accounting year and are audited by the Office of the Auditor General. - Systematic arrangements exist to obtain feedback from users of GFS, particularly institutional users. - SSB recognizes trade-offs among quality considerations (such as accuracy and timeliness); this is explicitly recognized for general government statistics in national accounts and for local government data reported to MOF on a quarterly basis. - SSB carefully selects working priorities and incorporates quality considerations into statistical planning; internal and external focus groups address new and emerging data requirements. - Permanent contacts with main users or institutional bodies guide SSB planning for existing and emerging needs. ### Integrity and professionalism - The Statistics Act ensures professional independence of SSB and provides authority to determine official statistics for the government. - No evidence of undue pressure or interference with SSB in compilation and dissemination of official statistics; a code of professional conduct exists, is known and practiced, publicly available on the SSB website (Staff Policies: Values, Aims and Principles), and stressed by management. - No evidence of political influence on the SSB Director General; the current Director General has been in SSB for about 34 years and in his current position for about 12 years. - SSB’s Strategy 2002 describes SSB as independent regarding content of statistics and analyses; SSB decides independently what to publish and when/how. - SSB commits to enhancing staff professionalism via task adjustment, incentives for personal development, human resources strategy, staff rotation, and cooperation with universities. - Recruitment and selection evaluate merit and potential exclusively; staff at various levels participate in international committees to maintain contacts (ca. 300 visits a year). - Staff receive training in statistics, computer processing, team work, and management; substantial on-the-job training provided; research is encouraged and subject to agency review for quality. - IMF and Norwegian user surveys indicate SSB has a high reputation. - The Statistics Act grants SSB independence to choose sources and methods within agency-wide decisions that consider costs and resources; an internal panel approves new statistical collections and SSB publishes substantial methodological information on its website. - SSB is entitled to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of official statistics; GFS compilers provide expert advice and explanatory material. ### Transparency, access, and dissemination practices - Complete documentation of terms and conditions for SSB’s statistical program is publicly available on the SSB website (see the Annual Report 2001); MOF terms and conditions are governed by the Norwegian Constitution and Accounting Rules (e.g., Bevilningsreglementet, Nov. 19, 1959 (with later changes) and Økonomireglement for Staten: Funksjonelle Krav til Økonomiforvaltningen i Staten). - Terms and conditions of the SSB program are summarized on the IMF’s DSBB. - SSB provides annual general government data to senior advisers in MOF approximately one week prior to public dissemination; this internal access is described on the DSBB. - SSB and MOF share working materials with each other, but these are not shared with policy level staff. - On budgetary central government debt data compiled and published by MOF in collaboration with SSB, there is no internal government access before public release. - All SSB publications are identified as produced by SSB; joint publications clearly identify joint producers; SSB requests users to identify SSB as the source when its statistics are reproduced. - Major changes in methodology are announced in advance (example: limited GFS revision for 1990-2001 announced four months in advance; latest COFOG revision announced four months in advance); minor changes explained at time of data dissemination. - Changes causing breaks in time series are clearly identified and users are given guidance on significance. ### Ethical standards - Staff of SSB and MOF are bound by public service rules; legislation and rules include provisions on staff behavior reflected in oaths of office. - All new SSB staff sign employment contracts specifying a code of ethical conduct; contracts were revised within the past two years and all employees signed new contracts. - Employees receive the booklet Staff Policies: Values, Aims and Principles on the SSB internal website. - MOF staff rules are stipulated, for example in Lov om statens tjenestemenn m.m., February 18, 1918 (with later changes as June 10, 1977, July 3, 1992, and February 4, 2000). ### Methodological soundness and standards - The overall structure of Norwegian government finance statistics follows international standards and guidelines in large part. - SSB compiles annual general government, central government, and local government statistics in the context of national accounts based on the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA) and the European System of Accounts (1995 ESA). - Classification of taxes is mainly based on Revenue Statistics (OECD) but adapted to the 1993 SNA/1995 ESA classification system used in Norwegian national accounts. - The analytical frameworks recommended in international standards GFSM 1986 and GFSM 2001 are not used; however revenue and expenditure data by economic type and by function can be broadly related to these standards, as can financial balance sheet figures classified by financial instrument and debtor/creditor. - SSB compiles and disseminates quarterly data on budgetary central government accounts (including the National Insurance Scheme), although these are not presented according to international standards. - On a monthly basis, only some principal revenue items for budgetary central government are collected and disseminated; the revenue items can be related to international revenue concepts. - For the National Budget, MOF presents previous years’ budgetary figures along with main aggregates for revenue, expenditure, and net lending/borrowing for general government sectors in cooperation with SSB; presentation is broadly in line with international standards and includes some accrual revenue figures. - SSB collects and publishes municipal and county municipal accounts annually as part of KOSTRA; local government accounts follow The Local Government Act and Regulations for municipal and county municipal budgets and accounts, with accounts divided into operational, capital, and balance sheet accounts; expenditure and revenue classified by type and function; balance sheet by financial instruments and debtor/creditor. - Plans to follow the analytical framework of GFSM 2001 have not yet been developed; such a framework would provide additional analytical tools and details to support fiscal analysis. - SSB is considering compilation of integrated nonfinancial and financial statistics for government as an extension of current responsibilities. - Implementation of accrual accounting for budgetary central government accounts would be a large step if proposed by the official expert group considering accrual accounting. *Source: _cr03207 - Section 3-3 of the Statistics Act authorizes SSB to coordinate statistical activities. In practice,* ### 2.2 Scope ### _cr03207 - 2.2 Scope ### Scope and coverage - Annual general government statistics compiled and published by SSB cover: - budgetary and extrabudgetary central government, - social security funds, - local governments (municipal and county municipal administrative bodies, municipal enterprises, and joint parish councils). - Exclusions: - Public corporations and quasi-corporations (financial or non-financial) are excluded. - No quasi-fiscal activities are carried out by public corporations and by Norges Bank. - Sources for GFS: - central government fiscal accounts, - individual accounts for municipalities and county municipalities, - accounts for other central, municipal and county municipal units considered part of general government. - Frequency and gaps: - Quarterly data compiled and published by SSB on central government exclude extrabudgetary central government (non-budget central government agencies). - Monthly data on budgetary central government operations are not produced. - Adequate annual information on flows of financial assets and liabilities are not available, though stock data for general government's financial assets and liabilities (based on 1993 SNA/1995 ESA) are published annually and available in comparable time series. - No corresponding quarterly or monthly data for general government's financial assets and liabilities (EU requirement from 2005). - Statements and consolidation: - Norwegian GFS covers a statement of government operations but does not include sources and uses on a cash basis. - A statement of other economic flows is derived but does not follow GFSM 1986 or GFSM 2001 recommendations. - Balance sheet information is available, but transactions in financial assets and liabilities classified by instrument and by institutional-sector counterpart are difficult to compile; only limited data compiled. - Financial balance sheets are not consolidated. ### Classification and sectorization - Frameworks used: - SSB compiles general government statistics in the context of national accounts (1993 SNA and 1995 ESA). - Institutional sector of general government is fully consistent with the SNA. - Presentation: - GFS provided separately for consolidated general government and the central and local governments. - Revenue, expenditure, and stocks (financial and non-financial) and flows are classified per national accounts. - 1999 Classification of Functions of Government (COFOG) introduced as part of the 2002 Data Revision. - Dissemination details: - Revenue and expenditure by type (interest payments separately identified), outlays by function, and net lending/borrowing are disseminated. - Only aggregated data on financial transactions are disseminated (cannot distinguish domestic vs. foreign financing or instrument type). - Detailed general government balance sheets by financial instrument and debtor/creditor are disseminated. - Other public-sector coverage: - SSB compiles accounting data on public financial institutions and all public nonfinancial corporations. - Neither a consolidated non-financial public sector nor an overall public sector (including the central bank) is published by SSB. - Statistics on public nonfinancial corporations are not disseminated on a regular basis, except in national accounts and the financial sector balance sheet. ### Basis for recording — valuation - Market prices: - Generally, flows comprise only cash transactions and are valued at market prices. - Financial assets and liabilities of budgetary accounts and social security are valued at market prices at acquisition and disposal but are not revalued regularly, except for revaluations associated with foreign currency. - Financial assets of the National Petroleum Fund are recorded on market prices and revalued regularly. - SSB collects face/nominal values for securities and in the financial sector balance sheet they are regularly revalued to market value based on Stock Exchange information; both market and nominal figures for securities are published. - Foreign currency: - Actual or mid-point exchange rates in the market, at the end of each period, are used to convert foreign currency transactions to local currency. - Local government accounting valuation: - Local government financial assets and liabilities are valued using a mixture of nominal and face values and historical costs; these figures are disseminated by SSB. - SSB estimates and publishes market values of local governments’ financial assets and liabilities based on Stock Exchange information on similar securities. - Nominal values used for loans and deposits with banks and for other non-traded financial assets/liabilities. - Non-financial assets: - Perpetual inventory method used to estimate written-down replacement costs of fixed assets, including infrastructure. - Value of stocks based on accumulated acquisitions/disposals revalued over a long period; original acquisition value adjusted for price changes and written down by geometric depreciation profiles for accumulated consumption of fixed capital. ### Basis for recording — time of recording (accrual) - Accrual basis: - SSB statistics in principle adopt an accrual basis; in practice they are on an adjusted accrual basis. - General government tax revenue data are reported on an adjusted accrual basis, but tax revenues for central and local governments are reported on a cash basis (i.e., GFS tax revenue compiled both on cash and adjusted accrual basis). - The difference between tax revenue in the general government sector and its subsectors is shown in a “Sector for tax collection” in SSB's tables. - General government expenditures are mainly reported on a cash basis (most central and local government operations), with some accrual adjustments. - Central government accounting: - Predominantly cash based; budgetary accounts and most extrabudgetary units recorded in cash. - Hospital accounts recorded on an accrual basis from January 1, 2002. - Many central government agencies run a management accrual accounting system parallel with cash accounting, but MOF collects only cash flow data. - Local government accounting: - Adopted features of modified accrual for expenditures (Local Government Act, 2001). - Introduced depreciation; tax revenues still on cash basis. - Accrual adjustments by SSB: - SSB makes accrual adjustments for national accounts where significant, mainly for: 1. taxes on products (VAT, etc.) and production, 2. taxes on income and wealth, 3. social security contributions, 4. consumption of fixed capital, 5. advance payments for large military equipment. - Perpetual inventory method also used to calculate consumption of fixed capital (depreciation). - SSB makes an accrual adjustment for advance payments for purchases of military equipment. - Accrual adjustments have not yet been expanded to central government employees’ unfunded pension schemes and to interest payments and receipts; plans under consideration. - Norwegian Government considering implementation of accrual accounting to its budgetary accounts; a State Budget Committee with 8 experts appointed to propose reforms; proposal to be published at the end of January 2003. ### Grossing/netting procedures - Transactions and positions: - Grossing/netting procedures are consistent with the 1993 SNA and the 1995 ESA. - All transactions are shown on a gross basis by SSB, except that revaluation items such as holding gains/losses are included. - Same gross basis applies to financial assets and liabilities. - Acquisitions and disposals of non-financial assets presented gross in GFS, but in most cases presented net in the national accounts. ### Accuracy and reliability — source data - Data sources and collection: - SSB collects central and local government data mainly from administrative records; consolidates data for general government in the national accounts context. - Financial balance sheets are not consolidated but could be by debtor/creditor classification. - Transactions in financial assets and liabilities are provided from administrative systems but not in a standardized format usable by SSB (need classification into debtor/creditor). - Central government sources: - Budgetary central government: administrative records in the MOF (also cover National Insurance Scheme). - Extrabudgetary units (including hospitals): not covered by administrative records; SSB collects accounting data via questionnaires annually and for some units quarterly; annual financial reports also collected. - Non-response is rare; if smaller agencies fail to report, last year's data used as estimate. - Local government sources: - Accounting data collected via KOSTRA-project; local government units submit accounts mainly through administrative records; most reporting automated. - Non-response minor; if smaller local units fail to report, previous year's data used as estimate. - Data on transactions in financial assets and liabilities are provided but not in a usable format for SSB. - Source data suitability: - MOF chart of accounts for budgetary central government is sufficiently detailed for national accounts mapping; SSB converts electronic budgetary data to Norwegian GFS categories using derivation tables updated regularly. - GFSM 1986 and GFSM 2001 codes are not incorporated in the chart of accounts. - Coding of financial transactions is sometimes insufficiently detailed; source data based on cash reporting require SSB accrual adjustments. - COFOG classification based on account chapters; 1999 COFOG implemented by SSB for central and local governments. - New hospital accounting system (from January 1, 2002) requires new annual derivation tables. - Quarterly data, less detailed, have been converted for quarterly national accounts. - KOSTRA (introduced on a full scale from the accounting year 2001) has improved local government reporting, reduced double reporting, and enabled earlier publication of local government statistics. - Timeliness: - Data for budgetary central government operations (including National Insurance Scheme) are available seven times a year (for every quarter and for every four months). - Source data submitted by about 400 agencies to MOF’s Central Accounting Unit within two weeks from the end of the reference period. - No monthly data on budgetary central government operations available for internal use by MOF. - Extrabudgetary central government: quarterly surveys and an annual census; in conformance with new EU regulation, quarterly data on largest extrabudgetary units provided within three months from end of reference period; preliminary annual data provided three months after end of reference year (sample covers 90 percent of total expenditure of this subsector); final annual data provided 10 months after end of reference year. - Local government: quarterly surveys and an annual census; first preliminary data based on census available at the end of April (four months after reference year); first annual estimates based on quarterly survey published at beginning of February (five-six weeks after end of accounting year); final data provided 10 months after end of reference year. - Source data for financing and debt available three to ten months after the reference period, depending on sector and asset/liability type. - Publication timing: - First figures from SSB published on the website one month after reporting deadline (March 15) for local government statistics produced by KOSTRA-system. ### Accuracy and reliability — statistical techniques - Compilation methods: - Budgetary central government and National Insurance Scheme data from MOF administrative records do not require estimation. - Extrabudgetary central government: annual census; reminders for large units; last year’s report used for smaller units as approximation in preliminary data; quarterly compilation uses sample survey for most significant units; others based on previous fiscal year estimates. - Local governments: annual census and quarterly voluntary sample surveys; procedures in place to estimate missing data based on accepted statistical processes. - Limitations in sampling: - Current quarterly voluntary surveys for local governments do not apply accepted scientific surveying techniques (no stratified sampling; largest city Oslo not yet able to deliver data). - SSB is in dialogue with MLGRD and others to introduce compulsory reporting of quarterly accounts from local government units. - Other statistical procedures: - Accrual adjustments (especially taxes) are applied as necessary. - Non-response for annual data is rare; for smaller local units previous year data may be used with growth-rate adjustments from reporting units. - Quarterly local government accounts currently converted and prepared at a less detailed level for use in quarterly national accounts. *Source: _cr03207 - 2.2 Scope* ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data ### 3.3 Assessment of source data coverage and quality - Source data include censuses, sample surveys and administrative records; these are routinely assessed for coverage, sample error, response error, and nonsampling error; results are monitored and made available to guide planning. - There are no material gaps in the coverage of the general government units. - Material gaps appear in the completeness of the data coverage of the financial account (see 3.1.1 referenced in source). - Trade-off between timeliness and accuracy is recognized and balanced: - Preliminary data are compiled and published as soon as reasonably complete and accurate data become available. - Preliminary data are replaced by final data after audited accounts have been produced. - If complete data are not available (e.g., fourth quarter of the year for the central government), SSB estimates total revenue and expenditure, and net lending/borrowing, based on budgetary central government data or third quarter data. - The status of the data for each period and any major quality reservations are identified when data are published or disseminated. - For local governments: - Preliminary data are based on several sample surveys and later replaced by full coverage final data. - A statement on the sample survey data is published to notify users of data quality status. ### 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs - Main intermediate data are validated against other information where applicable. - Pre-publication quality controls: - MOF surplus/deficit before financial transactions is compared with corresponding balance made by SSB; significant discrepancies may indicate compilation errors unless well accounted for. - Consistency of GFS data with national accounts aggregates is checked (e.g., government consumption and net acquisition of fixed assets). - Comparisons made between net lending/borrowing (from non-financial accounts) and change in net financial assets (from financial accounts); major deviations prompt attempts to explain differences (see 3.4.3). - Consistency checks with banking statistics, balance of payments statistics, annual census of foreign assets and liabilities, administrative register of securities, etc. - Main checking focuses on balancing items and reported transfers between general government sectors. - Coverage problems noted in central government, particularly in extra-budgetary sector expansion; requires analysis of source data to ensure accurate and consistent time series. - Identity used in compiling general government financial account: - Net lending/borrowing = change in net financial assets + reconciliation items + statistical difference. - When statistical difference is significant: - Reconciliation items are investigated to reduce statistical difference to acceptable level. - Investigations detect statistical differences in transfers between government sectors (e.g., unsupported transfers from central to local governments). - Unexpected values at all government levels are investigated. - Further investigation procedures (3.4.3): - Monetary accounts provide counterpart of GFS domestic bank financing and are used to check GFS balance sheet data. - External debt checked against annual census of foreign assets and liabilities. - Balancing items (reconciliation/revaluation and net lending/borrowing) are investigated when values are not within expected ranges. - Example: significant discrepancies between change in net lending (financial account) and net lending/borrowing (revenue and expenditure accounts) trigger thorough investigation of financial instruments for revaluations and changes in volume (e.g., write-offs). ### 3.5 Revision studies - Revisions mainly result from routine replacement of preliminary data by final audited data. - SSB does not carry out routine revision studies; special studies are undertaken if large discrepancies or gaps are identified. - Example special study: major revision of national accounts — SSB published the results of the 2002 Data Revision incorporating new information about trends and development for the second half of the 1990s. - Data Revision for general government mainly involved changes in central and local government expenditure by function. - Revised figures entailed an upward adjustment in general government consumption due to new estimates for consumption of fixed capital. --- ### 4 Serviceability ### 4.1 Relevance - SSB maintains continuous dialogue with main users: MOF, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (MLGRD), Norges Bank, and Division for National Accounts within SSB. - During preparation of budgetary central government data: - MOF and SSB work closely; budget proposals are converted by SSB to GFS formats and used by MOF in macro-economic models (MODAG). - This enables government monitoring of fiscal policy within a sufficient timeframe. - Annual general government statistics for national accounts (revenue, expenditure, net lending/borrowing) are released in time for the Revised National Budget in May, but not in time to fulfill Eurostat requirement (three months after end of reporting period). - Complete general government data in national accounts are only available annually and must be expanded to quarterly basis due to EU regulations. - Eurostat is an increasingly important user; Norway is obliged to adopt statistical regulations through the European Economic Agreement (EEA); regulations are legally binding. - Local government preliminary figures: - First preliminary figures for local government, based on a sample survey, are published four–five weeks after end of year. - Accuracy and reliability have not been sufficient in recent years due to the KOSTRA-project, which gradually introduced a new accounting norm in municipalities and county municipalities accounts (see 3.2.1). - Local government statistics inform consultations between the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities and MLGRD; MLGRD has access to accounting data for most municipalities two and a half months after end of reference year (from accounting year 2001 onward). - Cumulative year-to-date monthly budgetary central government data are not produced. - Cumulative quarterly budgetary central government data in national format emphasize government net lending/borrowing. - Annual central government data published by SSB and by MOF for National Budget have slightly different formats and show different surplus/deficit figures with inadequate explanation. - Feedback from non-institutional users on relevance is not sought regularly. - User survey conducted with this ROSC rated GFS relatively high on methodology, accuracy and lack of bias, and frequency; least satisfaction for coverage and accessibility (see Appendix III referenced in source). ### 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity - Timeliness: - Monthly central government operations data are not published except some principal tax revenue items, which are published 6 weeks after the reference month. - SDDS monthly central government operations timeliness and periodicity requirements are not met. - Quarterly central government debt data are published within one quarter as required by the SDDS. - Annual general government operations data (revenue, expenditure and surplus/deficit) are published within four months of end of year. - General government data on domestic and foreign financial assets and liabilities are disseminated only within 10 months, not within the two-quarter timeliness required by the SDDS. - Monthly accounting statistics on direct taxes are published for general government sector within 19 days after the end of the reference month. - Periodicity: - With exception of monthly central government operations data, data meet SDDS periodicity standard: - Central government operations data are only published annually; budgetary central operations data quarterly (except some principal tax revenue items published monthly). Monthly data required by SDDS are not produced. - Central government debt data are published quarterly and meet SDDS requirement. - General government operations data are published annually and meet SDDS requirement. - SSB expects that in a few years Norway will meet all timeliness and periodicity requirements for all three SDDS fiscal sector categories as a result of ongoing project to meet EU council regulations on short term public finance- and non-finance statistics. - Notes from source: - The EU regulation project must be carried out before the summer of 2005. - MOF currently able to release data on central government operations seven times a year (for every quarter and every four month period). - MOF decided to provide SSB with monthly revenue, expenditure, and financing data on budgetary central government within three–four weeks from end of reference month, starting in 2003. ### 4.3 Consistency - General: - Norwegian GFS stock and flow data follow 1993 SNA and 1995 ESA standards and are internally consistent for most accounts. - Revenue and expenditure aggregates are consistent with components; balances are consistent with aggregates. - Sum of transaction data for subsectors, after consolidation, is consistent with consolidated general government. - Weaknesses on financial side: - Reconciliation between stocks and flows is not properly made. - For government financial accounts, difference between opening and closing balance sheet for each asset and liability category and the net transactions and net other economic flows (net holding gains and losses and other changes in volume) are not fully reconciled. - Net lending/borrowing (from revenue-expenditure side) is used as an estimate for net financial transactions because satisfactory information on financial transactions is not available. - Financing cannot be broken down by domestic (bank/nonbank) and foreign financing; not possible to present financing by type of instrument at present. - A part of other economic flows is calculated as residual (statistical discrepancy); size minimized by searching annual reports of central and local governments. Some years had unresolved discrepancies larger than acceptable (central government in 1998-2000: 3.5, 5.1 and 4.6 billion kroner respectively). - Modernisation of annual financial reports has made it more difficult to identify revaluation items. - Transfers between central and local governments: - Transfers received do not always equal transfers paid; main reason lies in differences in basis of recording: budgetary central government accounts record transfers on cash basis; local government accounts record transfers on accrual basis. - SSB cannot interfere with surplus/deficit measures of central and local governments; correction is done through the “Sector for tax collection” (see 2.4.2). - The larger item is used in producing general government data; large discrepancies are investigated and reduced where possible (checks of 60-posts in Budgetary accounts against ca. 300-400 posts in local governments; necessary information extracted from annual budget documents for different ministries). - Other consistency issues: - No statement on sources and uses of cash for general government; cannot show consistency between cash balance and "policy balance" (net lending/borrowing less acquisition of financial assets for policy purposes). - Only loan transactions for fixed investments in unincorporated public corporations are treated for public policy purposes in Norwegian fiscal budget/accounts. - Benchmarking and consolidation: - Procedures to benchmark quarterly data to annual data are conducted in context of national accounts; updated data provided to users; details may be presented by SSB Research Department. - Consolidation follows 1993 SNA/1995 ESA across subsectors of central and local governments and the “Sector for Tax Collection etc” (see 2.4.2). - Time-series and revisions: - Changes from major methodological improvements or system changes are explained and time-series revised; last main revision revised time-series back to 1990; earlier main revision back to 1978. - Breaks in series due to methodological changes are clearly identified and explained in publications (symbols in tables or text). - Brief explanations on website or paper publications explain significant movements (e.g., gross fixed capital formation, tax revenue, transfers), usually drawn from MOF and MLGRD budget documents. - Consistency with other frameworks: - Most data in SSB’s estimates of general government are consistent or reconcilable with equivalent data sources elsewhere. - GFS data compiled by SSB are consistent with national accounts aggregates because GFS is source used for national accounts. - GFS financial balance sheets/financing data and government financial assets and liabilities held by other sectors are broadly consistent with annual monetary and banking statistics, annual census on foreign assets and liabilities, insurance statistics, ensured by system of financial sector balance sheets. - Grants and other transactions are consistent with balance of payments data because same source data are used and integrated into national accounts. *Source: 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data — _cr03207 (Government Finance Statistics), as provided in the supplied content.* ### 4.4 Revision policy and practice ### 4.4 Revision policy and practice ### 4.4.1 Revisions schedule and policy - Revisions follow a regular, well-established, and transparent schedule: initial data are preliminary and subsequently replaced by final data. - The revisions policy is stated in the “About the Statistics” section of the GFS pages of the SSB website, although described "not in a very transparent way." - The ordinary revision schedule is predetermined and reasonably stable from year to year. ### 4.4.2 Identification and treatment of preliminary data - Preliminary data are clearly identified in SSB publications: preliminary data are marked with an asterisk symbol. - Explanation of symbols is available on the SSB website at www.ssb.no/english/symbols.html. - Preliminary data published in the National Budget are not clearly identified. - Revised data are disseminated with the same level of detail as preliminary data. - The coherence between preliminary and final data is sufficient to allow preliminary data to be used with confidence for policy determination and analysis. ### 4.4.3 Revision studies and public disclosure - No specific studies or analyses of routine revisions are made public. - Major revisions are accompanied by public analyses and descriptions; examples given: - the 1995 Main Revision of the national accounts and GFS - the 2002 Data Revision - Results of revisions and previously compiled results for the same period are easily comparable and usually published in the same format. - There is no specific routine analysis of revisions to allow assessment of the reliability of preliminary data. *Source: _cr03207 - 4.4 Revision policy and practice* ### chapter 1, General Provisions, in which Norges Bank is authorized to inform the public ### chapter 1, General Provisions, in which Norges Bank is authorized to inform the public ### Legal framework for data collection and statistical responsibilities - The 1985 Act authorizes Norges Bank to inform the public about Norway’s monetary, credit and foreign exchange situation but does not provide a specific statutory basis for data or information collection. - Monetary and financial data collection is primarily authorized by the Act on the Supervision of Credit Institutions, Insurance Companies and Securities Trading no. 1 of December 7, 1956 (the Financial Supervision Act), the legal basis for the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission of Norway (BISC). - Other statutory bases and formal/informal cooperation agreements among BISC, Norges Bank, and Statistics Norway (SSB) further define Norges Bank’s responsibilities in monetary statistics. - A joint Report of 1994, unanimously endorsed by the heads of BISC, Norges Bank, and SSB, recommended: - “...transferring of financial statistics activity from SSB to Norges Bank with respect to the collection, control, processing and monthly [dissemination of] statistics for private banks, finance companies, mortgage companies, state lending institutions and mutual funds.....also transferring of the BISC’s activities on data control for statistical purposes. Norges Bank should also be responsible for establishing the joint data base and for data processing and services for the [three agencies].” - The Statistics Department of Norges Bank has implemented the Report’s recommendations relevant to its activities. - SSB retains over-arching coordination of official statistics under the Statistics Act of 16 June, 1989, No. 54, including notification and suggestion rights on methodology prior to dissemination of new statistical indicators, sectoral balance sheets, or surveys. - Norway participates in the European Statistical System and produces and disseminates data consistent with its legal requirements. ### Data sharing, joint database, and coordination - Norway’s monetary statistics are based on a joint database maintained by Norges Bank for use in statistics production, analysis, and supervision. - Limitations exist in data exchange: BISC has access to data for institutions subject to supervision but not to data for state lending institutions and Norges Bank. - The joint database contains individual data for other depository corporations and other financial corporations, merged into a common data matrix covering: - balance sheets, - profit and loss accounts, - data pertaining to the capital adequacy directive, - special reports on maturity and on off-balance sheet activity. - The Act on Reporting Obligations for Enterprises of June 6, 1997 requires government bodies to coordinate reporting requirements to reduce respondent burden and has advanced harmonization of data requirements and specifications in response to new international and national standards (BIS, OECD, IMF, Eurostat). - The Statistics Department monitors developments in ECB statistical practices through informal contacts but is excluded from working group meetings due to non-member status. - The mission views the complex statutory arrangements as not creating inappropriate influence in statistics production and as contributing to effective national coordination. ### Confidentiality and dissemination policy - Confidentiality is strictly practiced; employees are subject to duty of confidentiality under the Norges Bank Act, staff regulations, and the internal handbook Ethical Rules of Norges Bank. - Management reinforces confidentiality via the Bank’s Intranet and staff newsletter Orientering. - Contraventions of confidentiality may cause penalties against staff, with reference to the Penal Code (Straffeloven). - The Financial Supervision Act and associated legislation include regulations on confidentiality of individual data; Norges Bank uses internal regulations for statistical work. - Procedures prevent disclosure of individual data; special aggregation rules ensure residual disclosure does not occur when disseminating aggregates. - Access to individual data and the database is restricted to staff who require it; access privileges are granted on a “need to know” basis, are graduated (reading vs changing data), and time-limited. - Physical and computer security measures, and procedures for record destruction, are in place. - Data transmission from reporters is currently online or by email with no encryption; a new reporting system under preparation will encrypt data. - Norges Bank’s policy is to disseminate and publicly explain major revisions and events affecting statistics to the extent not confidential. Example: - In January 2002, the central government takeover of hospitals from counties involved grants of 17.8 billion kroner earmarked for debt payments, which had great impact on growth rates of credit indicators and monetary aggregates; once confidentiality concerns were addressed, Norges Bank informed users via its monthly press release and web-based headline statistical presentation. - Respondents are informed that data are used for supervisory and statistical purposes and of their rights and obligations in the Introduction to Regulations on Reporting. ### Reporting compliance, respondent relations, and enforcement - The legal basis for reporting by commercial and savings banks, mortgage and finance companies is the Financial Supervision Act, which mandates reporting. - Formal agreements among BISC, Norges Bank, and SSB assure data requirements are met. - Provisions for noncompliance in the Financial Supervision Act may be used to fine nonreporters, but in practice Norges Bank uses moral suasion and proactive measures to ensure reporting. - Measures to encourage response include: - minimizing respondent burden via the Register of Reporting Obligations of Enterprises in the Brønnøysund Register Centre, - contact-person arrangements to provide assistance in completing and submitting forms, - working-group meetings with reporting units and associations to streamline reporting and discuss major changes before implementation. - Because these measures are effective, fines and penalties are rarely used. ### Resources, technology, and staffing - Within the Statistics Department there are 22 persons involved in monetary statistics. - Staff qualifications are sufficient; staff receive formal and on-the-job training in monetary statistics methodology and compilation methods, including international guidelines. - External training is provided through EU programs (Training Program for European Statisticians), IMF courses (Monetary and Financial Statistics), and visits to other central banks and institutions. - Norges Bank’s competitive salaries and benefits contribute to staff stability and low turnover. - Computing resources are generally adequate; earlier compilation stages are performed on a mainframe system with relatively high costs, with steps to move from the mainframe to a local server in 2003. - Workstations (mainly PC) are renewed approximately every three years; local networks function well. - Software environment: - Early-stage compilation uses Natural Adabas (dating from the 1980s), a proprietary mature application with inflexible characteristics but satisfactory performance. - Later-stage compilation and dissemination use FAME and Excel; FAME was recently moved from a server to a PC platform. - Norges Bank is introducing more modern, commonly used software. - Reporting methods and web-based user downloading facilities (spreadsheet and PDF) are provided to reporters and users. - Hardware installation is distributed to ensure efficient processing and database management. ### Efficiency measures and resource management - The Action Plan is used internally to promote effective production processes and shared departmental vision. - Efficiencies are sought by using consistent concepts and methodology across the Department, and by applying code controls, logical controls, and analytical controls to minimize processing errors. - The Department analyzes its “product line” frequently and evaluates production processes every quarter (Statistical Methods Section and Statistics Director). - Periodic reviews of resource use in person-years are undertaken; most recent review cited in 2001. - The Department prioritizes staff resources to address major data problems and new needs (example: larger payments to the Registry of Securities in exchange for broader collection and reporting of bonds and certificates data used in the “kredittindikatorene” or credit indicators). - Collaboration with other Bank departments and the internal FAME group supports optimal use of technologies and promotes FAME-based work across the Bank. - Since 2001 all Norges Bank publications have been Internet-based, reducing conventional publication expenses. ### Quality awareness, monitoring, and planning - Management and senior staff recognize that quality builds public trust; external guidance on Total Quality Management has been received and possible integration with existing approaches is under consideration. - The 2002 Action Plan for the Statistics Department emphasizes: - ensuring the best possible trade-off between quality, timeliness, scope and use of resources; - meeting production and publication deadlines; - producing statistics of necessary quality in accordance with international recommendations/norms and measures such as size of unexplained deviation; - following procedures and routines for quality assurance; - focusing on tending to respondents and quality assurance, treatment of small vs. large orders of magnitude of data, improving automated and analytical controls on micro data in the primary financial statistics database, and improving dissemination routines. - Internal initiatives include a Monetary Policy Wing “school of bureaucrats” training program covering central bank law, statistics, and econometrics. - Processes to monitor quality include redesigning methods for delivering data to the common database, introducing automated controls in reporters’ systems, and internal feedback from the Financial Stability Wing, the Economic Department, and the Research Department. - The Department balances trade-offs (e.g., timeliness vs revisions) and has accelerated dissemination of credit and monetary aggregates and interest rate data to align with Board considerations. - Planned projects that improved quality include: - the Inndata-project (new reporting system), - reengineering of the revision and computing system for quarterly financial accounts (Findatr 2003), - investigations of new sources (Findatr 2003 and the securities statistics project). - Regular meetings with SSB include new requirements; SSB staff sometimes participate in Bank projects or work in-house at Norges Bank for periods. - User feedback is encouraged via contact persons, e-mail and phone numbers in publications; all inquiries are answered. Example: a user complaint about the concept “publikum” led to a descriptor change highlighted in the next monthly press release. *Source: chapter 1, General Provisions, in which Norges Bank is authorized to inform the public (extracted content).* ### 1. Integrity ### 1. Integrity ### 1.1 Professionalism - An internal rule gives the Statistics Department independence from intervention or influence by the rest of the Bank regarding the compilation and dissemination of statistical information. The rules are formalized in a letter from the Monetary Policy Wing addressed to the Governor dated November 28, 2001. The Governor has approved those rules. - Recruitment and staff policies: - Professional competency is emphasized in current recruitment policy. - Recent changes in the appraisal, salary, and promotion system will enhance future competency. - A streamlining and reduction in the staff of the Statistics Department planned for 2005 is expected to contribute to this objective. - Professional development and external engagement: - Publication of methodological papers and organization of lectures, conferences, and meetings. - Participation in international organizations: Eurostat’s CMFB and FAWP; OECD; BIS; Nordic meetings (including meetings with other central banks). - Participation in Norwegian organizations and meetings: frequent trilateral meetings between the BISC, Norges Bank and SSB; regular meetings with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository; quarterly meetings with representatives of depository corporations, other reporting units and banking associations; occasional joint meetings of the trilateral group with reporting units and associations. - Other contacts with professional users, visiting representatives of other central banks and international organisations. - Research and internal review: - Internal working papers, lectures and seminars subject to internal review. - Eight times per year the Department participates in providing the Governor a “Faktapresentasjon” (a briefing on recent economic developments), with feedback from the Governor and periodic evaluations. - The Bank undertakes systemic reviews of statistical frameworks; a recent study led to the adoption of the new monetary statistics framework in 2000 (revision based on the MFSM). - Transparency and public communication: - The Governor promotes accountability and public understanding of statistics through speeches, press releases, and web presence (homepage shortcuts, link to publications, pop-up calendar of appearances). - Emphasis on transparency under inflation targeting has promoted central bank independence by focusing public debate on long-run monetary and price stability issues and improving public understanding of statistics and monetary policy limitations. ### 1.1.2 Choices of sources and statistical techniques - Choices are driven solely by statistical considerations: - Ensure consistency of monetary statistics with national accounts statistics. - Provide financial stability indicators to monetary policymakers and the BISC’s supervisory and regulatory staff. - Norges Bank maintains multiple presentations from the same source data where needed (e.g., loans including and excluding expected loan loss provisions) to meet differing user needs (banking supervision vs. consistency with SNA 93). - Important methodological changes are mentioned in web-based publications and/or metadata. ### 1.1.3 Commenting on misuse - The Statistics Department monitors media/internet use of statistics, particularly after new data releases. - In cases of misinterpretation, the Department comments and may issue a notice with its interpretation. ### 1.2 Transparency - Public availability of terms and conditions: - Information on production and dissemination of official statistics is available on the Norges Bank website and reproduced on the IMF’s DSBB. - DSBB links to summary methodologies and the Norges Bank website. - All first-time publications are on the Norges Bank website; pages contain references or synopses of related information. - Norges Bank makes public pertinent parts of reporting regulations (Introduction to Regulations on Reporting by Banks, Mortgage Companies and Finance Companies etc.), including legal basis of reporting. - Norges Bank follows the Statistics Act principles on confidentiality of individual responses; reproduces or links to the Statistics Act, guidance to reporters, lists of codes and forms, and an advance release calendar for the coming three months. - Pre-release access: - There is no access by government officials to monetary statistics before public release. - Pre-access (half an hour before release), for information only, is given to: the Central Bank Governor and Deputy Governor and the heads of the Monetary Policy Wing, the Financial Stability Wing and the Information Department. - The government and the public are informed about this pre-release on the DSBB. - Identification and attribution: - As first-time dissemination is only by Internet, the producing agency (Norges Bank) is clearly identified. - Norges Bank disclaims liability for use of its Internet data and for loss or damage from incorrect, incomplete, or misleading data. - SSB and Norges Bank reference each other when publishing data produced by the other; Norges Bank re-releases SSB data in some tables in the Appendix of the quarterly Economic Bulletin. - Attribution by reproducers is not a standard requirement; the Statistics Department maintains a list of statistics requiring attribution. - Advance notice of major changes: - Major change planned for monetary statistics in October 2001 was announced in May 2001. - Change in the calculation of growth rates in the September 2002 release was announced in connection with the release of August 2002 data. ### 1.3 Ethical standards - Ethical guidelines: - Included in the internal handbook of Ethical Rules of Norges Bank §§8 and 9: employees must perform functions with strict impartiality; employees may not engage in financial activities or accept remuneration outside the Bank without advance knowledge of department heads. - Article 10: duty of confidentiality during employment and continuing after leaving positions. - New staff sign an initial agreement stating “the Ethical Rules apply to you as a new employee and form a part of your employment agreement.” - Institutional reputation: - The Governor’s frequent public communication reinforces the reputation for high ethical standards and autonomy from political interference. ### Key statistics and dates from Section 1 - Letter formalizing independence dated November 28, 2001. - Adoption of new framework based on MFSM in 2000. - Planned staff streamlining and reduction in the Statistics Department in 2005. - Announcement timing examples: May 2001 (change for October 2001); September 2002 (change announced with August 2002 release). *Source: _cr03207 - 1. Integrity* ### 2. Methodological Soundness ### 2.1 Concepts and definitions - Overall conformity: - Concepts and definitions conform, with some exceptions, to the IMF’s Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual (MFSM). - Norway began compiling and disseminating monetary statistics on the MFSM basis in November 2000. - Principal analytic framework: - Survey of monetary stock data called “Motposter til Pengemengden” (counterparts of broad money) — the consolidated balance sheet of Norges Bank and the commercial and savings banks with intra-sector eliminations. - The monetary concepts are obtained by adding relevant liabilities of the money issuing sector vis-à-vis the money holding sector. Norges Bank compiles and disseminates this survey. - Key aggregates/counterparts to the broad monetary concept (M2): - (i) net foreign assets; - (ii) net claims on the government sector; - (iii) gross claims on the money holding sector; and - (iv) other items (net). - Monetary concepts defined: - M0 (monetary base): banks’ and the money holding sector’s notes and coin and deposits with Norges Bank; banks’ deposits with Norges Bank comprise current account (sight) deposits and fixed-rate (time) deposits (F-deposits). - M1: money holding sector's notes and coin (in Norwegian kroner) and transaction deposit accounts with Norges Bank and banks (in Norwegian kroner and foreign currency). - M2: M1 plus money holding sector’s other bank deposits in Norwegian kroner and foreign currency except restricted deposits (bank saving with tax credit etc.) including certificates of deposit. - Sector definitions: - Money holding sector (for M1 and M2): local government (counties and municipalities), nonfinancial corporations, households and other financial corporations (excluding banks and state lending institutions). - Money-issuing sector (for M1 and M2): banks (Norges Bank and commercial banks and savings banks). - Money-neutral sector (for M0, M1 and M2): central government sector, state lending institutions and the non-resident sector. - Credit indicators supplementary to the depository corporations survey: - “Innenlandsk kreditt i norske kroner (K1)” = indicator C1 = “indicator of credit from domestic sources in NOK (C1)”: includes loans in NOK to the general public by banks, state lending institutions, finance companies, life and non-life insurance companies, mortgage companies, private and municipal pension funds, the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund and Norges Bank; includes bond and certificate debt issued by the general public in the domestic market and owned by Norwegian residents; domestic inter-company loans with and without guarantee were included up to end-December 1999; thereafter excluded. Loans from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund are placed in the category, “Other Sources.” - “Kredittindikatoren K2” = credit indicator C2 = “credit from domestic sources in NOK and foreign currency”: comprises C1 plus lending to the general public in foreign currency by Norwegian financial corporations. - “Kredittindikatoren K3” = credit indicator C3 = “credit from both domestic and foreign sources in NOK and foreign currency”: comprises C2 plus credit from foreign sources, obtained from the balance of payments and SSB’s compilation of “foreign assets and liabilities.” ### 2.2 Scope - Aggregated sectoral balance sheets compiled and disseminated by Norges Bank: - (i) Norges Bank, including the Government Petroleum Fund, which is managed by the Norges Bank; - (ii) commercial and savings banks; - (iii) state lending institutions; - (iv) mortgage companies; - (v) finance companies; and - (vi) mutual funds. - Frequency of compilation: - Monthly data for subsectors (i)-(iv). - Quarterly data for (v). - Annual data for (vi). - SSB dissemination: - SSB disseminates all of the above data on a quarterly basis, except (vi), which is annually, generally in more aggregated format. - SSB also compiles and disseminates sectoral balance sheets for: - (vii) life insurance companies; - (viii) non-life insurance companies; - (ix) pension funds; - (x) financial holding companies; and - (xi) securities broking enterprises. - SSB disseminates quarterly data covering subsectors (vii) and (viii) and annual data for subsectors (ix)-(xi). - Sector notes: - The central bank sector comprises Norges Bank excluding the Government Petroleum Fund, which is classified as part of the government sector. - The “Other depository corporations sector” comprises the commercial and savings banks. - The Other financial corporations sector comprises subsectors (iii)-(xi). ### 2.3 Classification/sectorization - Residency criterion: - Both Norges Bank and SSB employ the residency criterion to distinguish domestic and external accounts. - Institutional classification: - Classification of institutional units within the financial corporations sector is consistent with 1993 SNA and the MFSM. - Other economic sectors identified: (i) public sector (central government, counties and municipalities); (ii) nonfinancial corporations (public and private); (iii) households; and (vii) non-residents. - Instrument classification and deviations: - Most financial instrument classifications align with MFSM. - Some instruments, such as repurchase agreements (repos), reflect a combination of international standards and Norwegian accounting principles. - Norges Bank disseminates both the Accounting Department’s end-month balance sheet and the Statistics Department’s statistical compilation; the latter reorganizes accounting data into statistical aggregates. - Specific deviations and presentation for international reserves and repos: - Deviations from MFSM include treatment of some components of international reserves including repos, and gold and gold loans. - Norges Bank’s foreign assets (including the Government Petroleum Fund) reflect non-statistical guidelines for investment of substantial foreign assets. - Accounting Department follows BISC regulations issued July 1993 regarding accounting standards for banks on repurchase agreements for bonds: underlying bonds remain within bond holdings; increase in foreign deposits counterbalanced by a foreign liability (collateralized loan). - Statistics Department concern: this accounting treatment may overstate international reserve assets by counting both funds received and securities repoed. - Presentation adjustments made in Norges Bank’s Annual Report 2001: - Repos recorded as an increase in foreign deposits (within international reserves), counterbalanced by a foreign liability. - Bonds repoed remain within bond holdings (within international reserves). - Market value of bonds repoed presented in footnote no. 6 of the final year-end balance sheet in Annual Report 2001. - Value of the repurchase agreements (transfer amount) presented in footnote no. 2 of the Annual Report 2001. - Footnote no. 6 provides a short methodological note on the pertinent repurchase agreements. - The presentation follows MFSM except that the Manual calls for deduction of bonds repoed from international reserves and recording elsewhere; Norwegian practice is consistent with a practice accepted for the International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity: Guide to a Data Template. - Instrument valuation and recording issues have implications for classification and sectorization; other special phenomena affecting sectorization are documented in disseminated commentary when not confidential (example: re-sectorization of the hospitals sub-sector). ### Key counts and dates from Section 2 - November 2000: Norway’s monetary statistics began to be compiled and disseminated on the MFSM basis. - Accounting regulations followed: BISC regulations issued July 1993. - Annual Report references: Annual Report 2001 (footnote no. 6 and footnote no. 2). - Institution counts and end-2001 counts: - Of depository corporations: 22 commercial banks (of which eight are Norwegian branches of foreign banks) and 129 savings banks. - At the end of 2001: 11 mortgage companies, 56 finance companies, 3 state lending institutions, 272 insurance companies and pension funds, and 399 mutual funds. *Source: _cr03207 - 1. Integrity* ### 2.4 Basis for recording ### 2.4 Basis for recording ### 2.4.1 Market prices are used to value flows and stocks - Norges Bank does not follow uniformly the MFSM recommendation that the valuation of financial assets and liabilities should be done on the basis of market prices or market-price equivalents. Norway’s monetary statistics are based on a combination of Norwegian accounting laws and practices and international standards. - A dual valuation system is used: - Market pricing for tradable instruments. - Non-market prices for nontradables. - Repos included in international reserves: when non-market price information is presented for statistical purposes, market prices are presented in footnotes to the balance sheets (for example, in the Annual Report of Norges Bank). - Monetary gold and gold loans on Norges Bank’s balance sheet are valued using a “unit price” equal to the current world market price less 20 percent; this practice is described as inconsistent with international best practices. - Footnote: This method reflects the ECB’s guidelines of the late 1990’s; these were subsequently revised to market prices. - Loans by Norges Bank to the financial sector and other assets and liabilities are valued at nominal values, according to international guidelines. - Securities in Norges Bank’s trading portfolio are valued at market prices; a small amount of securities and long-term investments are recorded at nominal value. - Other depository corporations follow Norwegian corporate accounting standards providing for dual valuation: - Trading portfolios reported at market prices. - Longer-term and/or less liquid financial assets (bonds and shares) reported at book values (book value = acquisition cost less revaluations, depreciation, and write-offs). - On the liability side, securities and shares are valued at nominal prices, inconsistent with international statistical standards. (In the quarterly financial accounts the securities and shares collected and compiled in the depository corporations are revalued using actual data from the VPS, the Norwegian Central Securities Depository.) - For the “Kredittindikatorene” (credit indicators), the Statistics Department uses nominal values on bonds and certificates, on the basis that nominal values are the amount a debtor actually has to pay back at the end of the maturity term. (International standard practice calls for market prices for bonds whilst nominal values for certificates are acceptable.) - Deposits and capital on depository corporations’ balance sheets are valued at nominal value and accrued interest is included; part of accrued interest is registered as a sum for groups of instruments and included in other assets and liabilities rather than attached to each instrument. (The MFSM calls for inclusion with the instruments; 1993 SNA standards (11.101 and 13.81) permit accrued interest to be recorded either separately from, or together with loans and deposits.) - Loans on the asset side of other depository corporations’ balance sheets are reported twice: both adjusted and unadjusted for expected loan loss provisions. Norges Bank disseminates only the data adjusted for expected loan loss provisions, which is also the loans definition used in the “Kredittindikator.” - On the liability side, other depository corporations report loans at nominal values, consistent with the MFSM. - Financial derivatives: - Reported by other depository corporations as part of balance sheets data. - Derivatives in trading portfolios are valued at market or fair values, consistent with the MFSM. - Some derivatives are not reported separately; Norges Bank statisticians believe derivatives based on securities are likely reported with the underlying instruments, and amounts reported as derivatives in the report forms may relate to other derivatives and be disseminated together with other assets and other liabilities. - Norges Bank has adopted MFSM methodology to compile stock and flow data and developed recording procedures for transactions, revaluations, and other changes in the volume of assets (OCVA). The exclusion of loan losses from OCVA in the credit indicators is an exception. ### 2.4.2 Recording is done on an accrual basis - Norges Bank uses transaction dates (trade dates) in determining outstanding foreign currency resources and flows in its own balance sheet. - Unsettled buys and sales of foreign securities are counterbalanced by net claims presented under foreign deposits (also when net claims/liabilities are negative). - For other depository corporations: - Interest payable and interest receivable are recorded as interest accrues. - Holding gains and losses from changes in market values of financial assets and outstanding liabilities are recorded separately in revaluation accounts. ### 2.4.3 Grossing/netting procedures - Assets and liabilities of Norges Bank and all other depository corporations are collected and compiled on a gross basis, consistent with MFSM principles. - Claims on particular transactors are not netted against liabilities to those transactors. - Sectoral balance sheets aggregate financial assets and liabilities into major categories (e.g., claims by debtors, deposits by creditors). - Although compiled on a gross basis, many categories are presented on a net basis in surveys and presentations when analytically useful (for example, net credit to government). --- ### 3. Accuracy and Reliability ### 3.1 Source data - Source data collection: - Monetary and financial statistics databases are comprehensive and robust. - Reporting automated significantly since 1986; focus on accuracy and reliability of the tripartite database. - Production includes automated routines with crosschecks. - Source data approximate required definitions, scope, classifications, valuation, and time of recording; while classification and valuation issues persist for certain central bank and depository instruments, source data are readily available. - Timeliness: - All source data are timely, including Norges Bank’s balance sheet. - Source data from other depository corporations are uniformly timely. - See 4.2.1 for restriction on timeliness of December and January data. ### 3.2 Statistical techniques - Data compilation employs sound techniques: - Based on detailed supervisory and statistical report forms within a unified reporting system. - Forms include formula-based vertical checks and minimize duplication. - Other statistical procedures employ sound techniques: - Norges Bank adjusts growth rates in monetary aggregates for revaluations and breaks in the series beginning with dissemination of data for September 2002. This change was announced more than one month prior to the release of the September monetary data. ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data - Source data are routinely assessed for coverage, sample error, response error, and nonsampling error; source data are comprehensive with no particular response problem. ### 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and outputs - Intermediate data validation: - Verification against annual official accounting reports of reporting institutions. - Validation against balance of payments statistics and payments systems data. - Discrepancy follow-up: - Financial Statistics section works with the Statistical Methods section, BISC, and SSB to investigate discrepancies and follow up on reporting errors. - Errors in statistical outputs are investigated; major fluctuations often relate to methodological changes. - SSB regularly reviews source data and compilation prior to re-dissemination; the two agencies coordinate investigations when problems arise. ### 3.5 Revision studies - Studies and analyses of revisions are conducted regularly and disseminated on the Bank’s website. - Focus on comparison of growth rates of major aggregates between first (estimated or preliminary) data and final data. - Generally revisions in M2 and C2 are small; revisions in C3 are larger, reflecting large revisions of external sector data. --- ### 4. Serviceability ### 4.1 Relevance - Norges Bank monitors relevance and practical utility of statistics via users’ forums (most recent held in 2000). - User survey for this ROSC assessment confirmed users generally consider monetary statistics meet needs for relevance and timeliness. ### 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity - Timeliness: - Norges Bank disseminates its balance sheet and analytical accounts of the central bank two weeks after the end of the reference month, in line with SDDS requirements, for all months except December and January. - December balance sheet cannot meet two-week SDDS timeframe because data must be approved by Norges Bank’s Supervisory Council; December data are released around mid-February. - January data are released one week later. - Analytical accounts of the banking sector are disseminated monthly within one month after the reference period, meeting SDDS requirements. - Periodicity: - Analytical accounts of both Norges Bank and the banking sector have monthly periodicity and meet SDDS requirements. ### 4.3 Consistency - Internal consistency: - Norges Bank’s and other depository corporations’ records for claims on and liabilities to are consistent with each other. - Internal consistency checks and reconciliation of stock and flow data are maintained. - Over time: - Data are consistent over time except for series breaks explained by changes in coverage owing to shifts in the monetary statistics framework. - Growth rates are adjusted to take into account breaks in the series. - Cross-framework consistency: - Norges Bank statistics and those for other depository corporations are not always fully reconcilable with SSB national income compilations. - Monetary statistics are broadly consistent with government finance statistics and balance of payments statistics. ### 4.4 Revision policy and practice - Revisions follow a regular schedule: - Statistics Department disseminates revisions of the previous month’s data together with the current month’s data. - Revised data are shown in blue in published statistics tables. - Preliminary data: - Some reported data may be preliminary and subsequently revised; these tend to be small in magnitude. - Revision studies: - Periodic revision studies undertaken and major studies recently made public on Norges Bank’s web-site. --- ### 5. Accessibility ### 5.1 Data accessibility - Presentation: - Norges Bank website is attractive and user-friendly; descriptors of tables and underlying Excel spreadsheets are understandable and consistent with international norms. - Summary metadata accompany most frequently used statistics. - No “comment boxes”; contact person’s email address and hyperlink are provided. - Dissemination media and formats: - Norges Bank shifted to website-only dissemination. - Monetary and credit aggregates and many series are available on the website back to 1960. - Users are satisfied and willing to forego hard-copy publications. (The last hard-copy monthly monetary statistics publication related to data for October 2000.) - Advance release and simultaneity: - An advance release calendar is maintained on the website and adhered to closely. - Statistics are released to all users at the same time. - Nonpublished subaggregates: - Statistics Department cooperates with requests for data and tailor-made compilations, subject to a pricing policy for large requests; smaller requests are met without charge within informal staff-time limits. ### 5.2 Metadata accessibility - Documentation: - Hard-copy and Internet documentation of concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques is available in Norwegian and English. - Summary methodology pages for analytic accounts of Norges Bank and the banking sector are on the Norges Bank website and accessible from the DSBB. - Disclosure of major events: - Major events affecting classification and sectorization have been made public when dissemination does not violate confidentiality (example: published effect on monetary aggregates of takeover by central government of units previously in local government (hospitals)). - Detail levels: - Summary methodology statements are provided in web-based tables and on the DSBB; users may “drill down” to aggregated balance sheet data. - Detailed statements of sources and methods are not always available on the website, but metadata descriptions are provided upon request. - Detailed descriptions of recent revisions and changes in methods have recently been made available on the Bank’s web-pages. *Source: _cr03207 - 2.4 Basis for recording.* ### 5.3 Assistance to users ### _cr03207 - 5.3 Assistance to users ### Identification of contact persons and user channels - A prominent feature of Norges Bank’s website is the identification of a contact person for the monetary and financial statistics. - The contact person shares a data “mailbox” with other statisticians, permitting generalized contact by users and reporters. - These venues provide ample opportunity for users to request assistance. - Requests for special compilations of monetary statistics are generally met by the contact persons (see also 5.1.5). ### Catalogues, publication information, and charges - The Norges Bank homepage provides considerable information on its web-based and hard-copy publications, documents, and dissemination services. - Under the new web-based dissemination policy, charges or user fees would arise only in the event of a special, time-consuming request. - The website is designed to link users to related domestic and international websites, hardcopy publications, and points of contact. ### Data accessibility and metadata (assessment summary) - In Table 9 (Data Quality Assessment Framework: Summary of Results for Monetary Statistics, Compiling Agency: Norges Bank), the assessment element "5.3 Assistance to users" is marked with an X under the "O" (Practice Observed) column. - Key to symbols: NA = Not Applicable; O = Practice Observed; LO = Practice Largely Observed; LNO = Practice Largely Not Observed; NO = Practice Not Observed; SDDS = Complies with SDDS Criteria. ### Related operational and legal context affecting user assistance - Legal and institutional references: - The Statistics Act of 16 June 1989, No. 54 governs compilation and dissemination of statistics by SSB and under Section 3-1 makes SSB the central body for official statistics. - Act No. 10 of 14 July 1950 Relating to Currency Control and the Foreign Exchange Regulations establish Norges Bank’s authority over international transactions. - Norges Bank Act of 24 May 1985 establishes duty of confidentiality for Norges Bank employees. - Confidentiality and data security: - SSB is prohibited from publishing or disclosing data from which information about individual persons or firms can be derived (Statistics Act Sections 2-4 and 2-6). - Norges Bank has comprehensive internal procedures for data safety; training programs have been undertaken (example: the data security program “For Your Eyes Only” in 2001). - Data transmitted from reporting units are submitted either online or by e-mail, with no encryption; a new reporting system is under preparation using the Internet with all data encrypted. - Reporting mandates and compliance: - Sections 2-2 and 2-3 of the Statistics Act provide for mandatory reporting and penalties for non-compliance; across SSB there are about 7,000 cases annually in which respondents are fined for non-compliance. - Reporting for the balance of payments surveys is mandatory under the Act. - Act No. 10 of 14 July 1950 (Section 10) and the Foreign Exchange Regulations (Sections 18-3 and 18-4) provide for fines and/or imprisonment for up to two years for failure to comply with directives under the Act. - Norges Bank takes a helpful attitude toward assisting reporters who have had difficulty supplying required data and also encourages cooperation through visits, phone contact, well-written instructions, and electronic reporting options. ### Resource and quality-management implications for user assistance - Staffing and projects affecting assistance capacity: - There are 30 staff involved in ITRS data collection in Norges Bank. - There are three staff of the DNA who work on balance of payments, of whom two are university graduates in economics. - Altogether, there is approximately two full-time staff equivalents devoted to balance of payments compilation at DNA. - A multi-division project team has been established by SSB to develop a new data collection system; the team has been allocated about 15 full-time staff equivalents in the 2003 budget. - The ITRS is scheduled to cease at the end of 2004, necessitating pilot testing and implementation of the new system before that date. - Quality-awareness and training relevant to user support: - Systematic quality work started in 2001; managers (about 50) have been given two days of training. - In 2001, SSB trained 18 quality pilots; another 20 quality pilots are being trained in 2002. - Quality monitoring includes coding errors, consistency checks, timeliness, net errors and omissions, and consistency with other statistics. *Source: _cr03207 - 5.3 Assistance to users* ### 1.2 Transparency ### _cr03207 - 1.2 Transparency ### Transparency: terms, access, identification, and methodology changes - Terms and conditions under which statistics are collected, processed, and disseminated: - The complete set of documents that articulate the terms and conditions under which SSB executes the statistical program is available to the public on the SSB website. - The terms and conditions are summarized on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB). - Internal governmental access prior to release: - There is no access by government officials outside SSB to balance of payments statistics prior to public release. - The website release ensures a strict policy of non-differential treatment of balance of payments data users; ministries and all other users are treated equally. This policy is described on the DSBB. - Within SSB: the Director of the Department of Economic Statistics does not receive the monthly balance of payments release until the afternoon prior to the release. The Director General receives the press release only 30 minutes ahead of the 10:00 a.m. release time. - Identification of statistical products: - All SSB publications are identified as being produced by SSB, including information on the SSB website. - SSB requests that users of its data identify SSB as the source when its statistics are reproduced. - Joint publications with other agencies clearly identify SSB and the other agencies as joint producers; no joint publications involving balance of payments have been produced to date. - Advance notice of major methodological changes: - SSB provides articles on major changes in methods, usually in Økonomiske Analyser and Economic Survey. - Example: conversion to the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA) and the fifth edition of the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5) was announced five months in advance in Økonomiske Analyser and Economic Survey; a more detailed article on the effects was published simultaneously with the revised figures. - The 2002 revisions of data were announced in advance in more general terms, with a more detailed article published shortly after the release of new data. - Distribution of information about methodological changes could be enhanced by adding a cross-reference in the balance of payments release. ### Ethical standards (staff behavior and confidentiality) - Employment contracts and confidentiality: - The employment contract signed by all new SSB staff includes references to the general rules applying to all civil servants and the obligation to obtain special permission to take any secondary job that may interfere with the “duty of loyalty.” - The contract refers to a separate “declaration of secrecy” that must be signed at the same time. - Within the past two years, these documents were revised and all employees were given new contracts to sign. - Employees are given the booklet Staff Policies: Values, Aims and Principles, which is on the SSB internal website. - Comparable rules at Norges Bank: - Similar rules apply for Norges Bank staff, such as those appearing in the Ethical Rules of Norges Bank, communicated through the employment contract, training sessions, and the Bank’s internal website. ### Methodological soundness — concepts and definitions - Adherence to international standards: - The balance of payments closely follow BPM5. - Norway implemented the new international standards for balance of payments in 1995. - In accordance with membership of the European Economic Area and agreements with Eurostat, Norway also implements more specific European statistical standards. - Notable deviations and special treatments: - Some minor cases where data sources do not allow BPM5 to be fully followed. - When oil is piped from the Norwegian continental shelf to the United Kingdom and is then returned to Norway without a change in ownership, it is reported in both exports and imports to be consistent with merchandise trade statistics; this is inconsistent with the change in ownership principle used in BPM5 but produces an upward bias to both exports and imports of less than 0.5 percent. ### Methodological soundness — scope - Residence and territory: - Norway’s balance of payments statistics cover all transactions between residents and nonresidents in principle. - Resident economic units are defined in broad conformity with BPM5 concepts of economic territory and center of economic interest. - The data cover the whole economic territory of Norway, including the Norwegian parts of the continental shelf where substantial oil and gas extraction operations are undertaken. - Treatment of cross-border petroleum fields: - Exports include an adjustment for the U.K. parts of petroleum fields that overlap the border between Norway and the U.K.; capital expenditures and operating cost shares are recorded as exports when applicable. - A corresponding treatment is adopted for Norwegian-owned parts of petroleum fields operated by U.K. enterprises; the U.K. has the same treatment. - Although not dealt with in international manuals, this treatment is described as arguably compatible with BPM5 general principles. - Shipping and special corporate residency: - Shipping operated by Norwegian companies is included, regardless of the flag of the ship; non-Norwegian crew are treated as residents of their home territories. - SAS Scandinavian Airlines is treated as a single entity resident in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway: two-sevenths of its operations are regarded as resident in Norway and the rest as nonresident, with the other countries adopting consistent treatments. - Repos and residence test: - Security repurchase agreements (repos) are treated as collateralized loans. - The residence of individuals is determined by inclusion in the register of Norwegian residents, which uses a six-month residence test, differing slightly from the one-year guideline of BPM5. - Data detail and dissemination: - SSB’s monthly balance of payments release includes the broad items of the current, capital, and financial accounts. - Lack of a quarterly or annual publication means additional details are not available from SSB publications; additional detail is provided in reporting to international organizations and on request to individual users. ### Methodological soundness — classification/sectorization - Presentation differences from BPM5: - Repairs are classified as services. - Financial derivatives are included with direct and portfolio investment rather than as a separate category. - Additional items within trade in goods and services for the oil and shipping industries are shown to reflect Norwegian circumstances. - Level of detail: - SSB’s balance of payments release has less detail compared to BPM5 standard presentation (e.g., no functional split for income; limited short-term/long-term and sectoral split for the financial account published only for banks and other sectors). - Reporting to international agencies: - Despite national presentation differences, data are reported to international agencies in accordance with international practices. ### Methodological soundness — basis for recording - Valuation and currency conversion: - In general, Norway’s balance of payments are valued at market prices. - In national publications, imports of goods are valued on a cost, insurance, and freight (c.i.f.) basis; data reported to international agencies are on a free on board (f.o.b.) basis. - Domestically supplied maritime transport on imports of goods is reported in the annual shipping survey and treated as an export in national publications. - Insurance is estimated as 0.6 percent of total imports of goods. - ITRS data are reported in the original currency and converted to Norwegian kroner by Norges Bank at the exchange rate prevailing on the day or in the month of the transaction. - For merchandise trade statistics, values in foreign currencies are converted using the exchange rate on the transaction date or the shortest period applicable. - Other balance of payments data sources come from surveys where data are reported in Norwegian kroner. - Oil pricing and provisional calculations: - Since prices of oil shipments are not always determined at the time of leaving the country, provisional calculations are based on the volume of oil and current market prices per barrel, and then adjusted when final prices are established. - Banks, stocks, and revaluations: - Banks’ financial transactions are derived from changes in stocks; incomplete information on revaluation implies that the derived transactions may include the effect of some revaluations. - Accrual basis and timing issues: - In principle, Norwegian balance of payments data adopt an accrual basis for the time of recording. - Some sources only approximate accrual: - Merchandise trade statistics are recorded according to the time of clearance by customs, which may differ from the time goods change ownership. - ITRS transactions are recorded at the time that payment is made. - Interest timing may vary from an accrual basis; no adjustments can be made due to lack of information. - SSB staff consider deep-discount bonds are not common in Norway, so omission of the discounted amount from interest may not be significant. - Large values of oil rigs and ships are identified separately in compilation and shown at the time of entry to Norway, although an accrual basis might point to recognition as progress payments were made. - Grossing/netting procedures: - Grossing and netting procedures are consistent with BPM5. - Current and capital account transactions are recorded on a gross basis. - Financial account transactions are recorded on a net basis, separately for the individual asset and liability components. - Goods for processing are recorded on a gross basis and goods for repairs are recorded on a net basis, consistent with BPM5. *Source: _cr03207 - 1.2 Transparency (excerpt).* ### 3.1 Source data ### 3.1 Source data ### 3.1.1 Source data collection system and coverage - The core of the data collection system for Norwegian balance of payments statistics is a settlements-based ITRS. - Additional sources: external trade, banking, and government statistical systems; surveys on direct investment, oil activities, and shipping operations. - The Balance of Payments Statistics Section of the Statistics Section of Norges Bank runs the ITRS and aggregates the data for SSB. - ITRS structure: - Closed settlement system comprising indirect reporting of settlements through Norwegian banks, and direct reporting from businesses with significant settlements accounts with foreign banks or other nonresidents (e.g., inter-company accounts). - Bank reporting: information from all Norwegian banks on their own and their customers’ transactions; supplied electronically to Norges Bank on a daily basis. - Banks identify residence of payer/payee via permanent address or other relevant information and report country of residence using ISO country code. For resident parties, banks report business identification numbers linked to SSB sector classification. - Transaction classification: around 30 major categories (two-digit payment codes) which Norges Bank staff further break down to three-digit codes based on reporters’ descriptions. - Direct reporting: for units undertaking large-scale international transactions through their own accounts with nonresident banks or other nonresidents; similar data to bank reports but less frequent. Monthly reports required from businesses that render or receive large loans to/from nonresidents to control and supplement loan transactions in settlements reports. - Reporting simplifications: - Reporting thresholds used for direct reports to allow omission of small operations (accounts). - Simplification thresholds used in bank reports to allow transaction value recording without coding/description. - Transactions below simplification threshold are allocated to codes using “distribution keys” derived from previous studies. - External trade statistics from SSB (customs records) used for estimates of exports and imports of goods. Banking and government data used for sectoral international transactions to achieve consistency across datasets. Government Petroleum Fund transactions are currently obtained from the ITRS; planned to use estimates from banking statistics starting in 2003. - Retained earnings calculated by Norges Bank from surveys of direct investment stocks and settled dividends reported to the ITRS. - SSB surveys: - Quarterly and annual surveys of oil companies. - Annual surveys of shipping operations. - Surveys used to fill gaps where some transactions are not covered in the banking system; ITRS used for most recent period estimates and adjusted to survey levels when available. - Tax register information is used to estimate compensation of employees credits and debits; reported values likely understated but considered minor. Annual shipping survey provides data on compensation paid to non-Norwegian residents employed on Norwegian vessels. - Identified sources of gaps or double counting: - (1) Misclassification of items by banks. - (2) Netting of transactions by enterprises with transactions in both directions (e.g., travel agents, brokers, telecommunications) or deduction of withholding tax (so only payment net of withholding tax is reported). - (3) Problems in borderline between direct reporting and the ITRS. - ITRS seeks to collect gross transactions in inter-company accounts and other international netting cases, but complex netting systems pose risk of misreporting. ### 3.1.1 Suitability of the ITRS and planned changes - The ITRS was designed when exchange controls were administered; subsequent liberalization of international transactions, increasing internationalization of financial markets, and growth in transactions have undermined the ITRS’s suitability. - Net errors and omissions: - The level of net errors and omissions is an indicator of internal discrepancy between the current account and the capital and financial account. - Over the period 1992-2001, the value of net errors and omissions for Norway was an annual average of minus 2.7 percent of GDP, with the average absolute value also 2.7 percent. - Compared with 17 other advanced countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the average value of 2.7 percent was, by far, the highest, and the average absolute value of 2.7 percent was matched only by Ireland and New Zealand. - Norway’s measures of net errors and omissions relative to international flows would produce a relatively better ranking since Norway has a high ratio of international flows to GDP. - The values for 2000 and so far in 2002 have been particularly high; data for 2000 and subsequent periods are still subject to revision. - Net errors and omissions have shown a consistent pattern of being negative, indicating timing differences and persistent net undercoverage of debit entries and/or overstatement of credit entries. - Assessment attributes likely causes of reporting problems largely to financial account items. - Cost and burden: increasing transaction volumes make the ITRS more expensive for banks, large companies, and Norges Bank because transactions must be reported and classified individually; banks often lack full information on transaction objectives, increasing coding burden and potential misclassification. - Decision: Norges Bank and SSB decided to discontinue the ITRS at the end of 2004. Replacement: direct reporting and/or surveys undertaken by Norges Bank (for banks and other credit institutions) and SSB (for other sectors). Details being considered by an SSB project team involving data-collecting and compiling divisions of SSB as well as Norges Bank. - Suggested features for development of a new data collection system (from internal guidance): - Conducting a survey of user needs; - Seeking integration of collection of balance of payments and international investment position data; - Consideration of staffing implications of greater coordination and quality control associated with the new system; - Seeking to have new surveys beginning in 2004, to allow time to overcome teething problems, and have some overlap with the existing data to assess the effect of the new system on the results; - Undertaking subsequent revisions studies (initially, to show the effect of new methods, later for routine revisions to look for signs of bias or high uncertainty); - Revision of the publication of sources and methods. ### 3.1.2 Definitions, scope, classifications, valuation, and timing - Source data generally use definitions, scope, classifications, valuation, and time of recording acceptably close to BPM5 requirements. - Timing differences relative to BPM5: - Goods timing: according to customs clearance, an approximation for time of change of ownership. - Interest data: shown on cash payments basis, plus adjustment for zero-coupon bonds; not measured on accrual basis. - Other transactions measured through ITRS: based on time of payment, generally acceptable approximation to accrual basis. - Classification limits: - ITRS transaction classification does not meet needs for detailed splits in some areas; some smaller transactions need not be classified. - Some totals are split using supplementary data (“distribution keys”) obtained from previous periods and special studies. ### 3.1.3 Timeliness - External trade statistics available about 10 working days after the end of the reference period. - ITRS data available about 32 working days after the end of the reference period. - Because of integration with quarterly national accounts, estimates of exports and imports of goods and services may be adjusted in the quarterly national accounts balancing process every third month; balance of payments data are sourced via national accounts processing and are available about a week later in that month than in the other two months of the quarterly cycle. - Survey timing: some oil and shipping surveys are quarterly or annual; survey data incorporated into historic series when available and ITRS used to estimate most recent periods, with ITRS adjusted to be consistent with survey levels. ### 3.2 Statistical techniques 3.2.1 Compilation practices - Data compilation for the ITRS and other datasets is highly automated from reporting to processing in Norges Bank and SSB; some surveys also use electronic reporting. - Checkpoints: automated validity checks and identification of unusual transactions at several stages; follow-up of enterprises misclassified (e.g., services reported as goods) with queries resolved with companies; large and new transaction types are flagged for follow-up and checking. 3.2.2 Adjustments, transformations, and modelling - c.i.f./f.o.b. adjustment for imports: - Based on ratios derived from a mixture of annual information from the shipping survey and information dating back more than 20 years. - Calculation is made at an aggregated level and takes into account domestically-supplied maritime freight component. - Insurance services derived from insurance premiums by an annually-updated ratio derived from the domestic insurance industry. - Trade credits: - Derived as differences between external trade data and corresponding ITRS payment data for exports and imports. - Method limited to ships, oil rigs, airplanes and export of crude oil and natural gas. - Method consistent with other countries using an ITRS despite potential valuation, timing, and measurement inconsistencies. - Exports and imports of goods and services: - Volume estimates available quarterly using suitable methods of deflation and annual chaining. - Components seasonally adjusted using X-12–ARIMA. - Integration with national accounts: - Supply of exports and demand for imports balanced with other supply and uses at product level (80 products quarterly, 1200 products annually) in accord with national accounting best practice. - Revised national accounts methods for estimation of production of services have led to results closer to adjusted ITRS results for services than previous balance of payments estimates. ### 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data - Automated validity checks and identification of unusual transactions at several ITRS stages. - ITRS collects opening and closing balances on accounts allowing consistency checks as both balances and transactions are reported in original currency. - Transactions split between balance of payments relevant and “neutral” transactions so that net of neutral transactions should equal zero in principle. Large and unusual transactions checked with respondents. - For direct reporting companies, transactions with Norwegian banks are checked against indirect information in bank reporting system. ### 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs 3.4.1 Cross-validation - Annual survey and other data for shipping, oil, post, and telecommunications routinely checked for consistency with balance of payments estimates derived from the ITRS. - Where sources other than the ITRS are used (trade in goods, bank and government transactions), estimates are compared with ITRS equivalents; checks highlight timing differences between sources. - Financial press monitored for news of direct investment proposals to confirm correct ITRS recording and identify need for additional information collection. 3.4.2 Investigation of statistical discrepancies - Norges Bank and SSB monitor net errors and omissions from within the ITRS and discrepancies between government, banking, and trade data that replace some ITRS values; tabulated monthly and investigated for causes. - Persistent level of inconsistency has not been fully explained despite investigations and resolution of some issues. - ITRS data for travel checked against tourism statistics; ITRS estimates shown to be very close to alternative estimates derived from types and numbers of tourists and average expenditure—indicating banks, credit card operators, and travel agents generally follow ITRS reporting instructions to avoid understatement from netting. - Integration of balance of payments and national accounts compilation means exports and imports of goods and services are reconciled with other supply and use data every quarter at detailed product level. 3.4.3 Other checks - Merchandise trade data are checked against partner data regularly; one partner country chosen for investigation each year. Discrepancies have been minor or explained (e.g., treatment of transit of oil through North Sea pipelines identified as a major cause of differences between United Kingdom and Norwegian data). - SSB undertook a review of rates of return on inward and outward investment in response to concerns that income credits appeared low relative to income debits; differences in rates of return were explained and results published in Økonomiske Analyser. *Source: _cr03207 - 3.1 Source data* ### 3.5 Revision studies ### 3.5 Revision studies ### Overview of revision-study practice - Studies and analyses of revisions are carried out routinely and used to inform statistical processes, but not on a comprehensive basis. - Three aspects of revision studies are distinguished: - causes of individual one-off revisions; - effect of introduction of major revisions to sources and methods; - patterns of small-scale, routine revisions. - Large individual revisions in source data are carefully monitored as they occur; systemic problems are addressed (for example, contact with the reporter to advise on avoiding future omissions). - Revision studies on the effect of major methodological changes are undertaken (notably for 1995 and 2002 changes). - There has been no recent study of the aggregate effect of small-scale, routine revisions; monthly aspects of revisions to monthly balance of payments series have not been identified. ### Findings from past studies - Major methodological change studies: - Introduction of the new international standards in 1995 (implementation of BPM5) — studies identified effects on levels and growth rates for different periods. - Introduction of new data for services in 2002 — studies identified effects on levels and growth rates for different periods. - Study of routine revisions (national accounts): - A study was conducted for the national accounts in 1990 (published in Økonomiske Analyser, 7/1990), which included quarterly estimates of exports and imports of goods and services but did not cover income and financial accounts or balance items. - The 1990 study found: - a small upward bias of "+0.4 percent on average for 1972-1987" in the revisions from first estimates to final estimates for annual volume growth rates for exports of goods and services; - an insignificant downward bias of "-0.1 percent" in the revision of imports of goods and services. - Publication and commentary: - Significant revisions due to methodological changes or source-data revisions are noted in commentary of the monthly balance of payments release (example: September 2002 release notes a revision caused by identification of the import of an oil platform previously omitted). - SSB’s Økonomiske Analyser and Economic Survey published revision studies on the implementation of BPM5/1993 SNA and the 2002 services-data revisions. - All available revision studies are published, but studies of the effect of routine revisions are limited and outdated. ### Gaps and implications - No recent comprehensive study exists on the aggregate effect of small-scale, routine revisions for balance of payments, leaving potential systematic bias and the range of uncertainty in preliminary data unquantified. - Monthly revision patterns for balance of payments series have not been identified, despite the monthly frequency of the data. - The lack of routine revision studies constrains the ability to: - identify systematic biases in preliminary estimates; - quantify the range of uncertainty users face when using preliminary monthly data. ### Suggested priorities (implied by findings) - Conduct a comprehensive, up-to-date study of routine revisions covering: - balance of payments monthly series (including monthly aspects of revisions); - income and financial accounts and balance items (areas not covered by the 1990 national-accounts study). - Continue to publish and document significant revisions and methodological changes in the monthly release and in Økonomiske Analyser/Economic Survey to maintain transparency. *Source: _cr03207 - 3.5 Revision studies.* ### 0.1 Legal and institutional ### 0.1 Legal and institutional ### Legal and institutional environment - The environment is supportive of statistics. - Indicators: - 0.1.1 The responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating statistics is clearly specified. - 0.1.2 Data sharing and coordination among data producing agencies are adequate. - 0.1.3 Respondents' data are to be kept confidential and used for statistical purposes only. - 0.1.4 Statistical reporting is ensured through legal mandate and/or measures to encourage response. ### Resources - Resources are commensurate with needs of statistical programs. - Indicators: - 0.2.1 Staff, financial, and computing resources are commensurate with statistical programs. - 0.2.2 Measures to ensure efficient use of resources are implemented. ### Quality awareness - Quality is a cornerstone of statistical work. - Indicators: - 0.3.1 Processes are in place to focus on quality. - 0.3.2 Processes are in place to monitor the quality of the collection, processing, and dissemination of statistics. - 0.3.3 Processes are in place to deal with quality considerations, including tradeoffs within quality, and to guide planning for existing and emerging needs. ### Integrity (Principle) - The principle of objectivity in the collection, processing, and dissemination of statistics is firmly adhered to. - Elements and indicators: - 1.1 Professionalism - 1.1.1 Statistics are compiled on an impartial basis. - 1.1.2 Choices of sources and statistical techniques are informed solely by statistical considerations. - 1.1.3 The appropriate statistical entity is entitled to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics. - 1.2 Transparency - 1.2.1 The terms and conditions under which statistics are collected, processed, and disseminated are available to the public. - 1.2.2 Internal governmental access to statistics prior to their release is publicly identified. - 1.2.3 Products of statistical agencies/units are clearly identified as such. - 1.2.4 Advance notice is given of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques. - 1.3 Ethical standards - 1.3.1 Guidelines for staff behavior are in place and are well known to the staff. ### Methodological soundness - The methodological basis for the statistics follows internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. - Elements and indicators: - 2.1 Concepts and definitions - 2.1.1 The overall structure in terms of concepts and definitions follows internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices: see dataset-specific framework - 2.2 Scope - 2.2.1 The scope is broadly consistent with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices: see dataset-specific framework. - 2.3 Classification/sectorization - 2.3.1 Classification/sectorization systems used are broadly consistent with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices: see dataset-specific framework. - 2.4 Basis for recording - 2.4.1 Market prices are used to value flows and stocks. - 2.4.2. Recording is done on an accrual basis. - 2.4.3 Grossing/netting procedures are broadly consistent with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. ### Accuracy and reliability - Source data and statistical techniques are sound and statistical outputs sufficiently portray reality. - Elements and indicators: - 3.1 Source data - 3.1.1 Source data are collected from comprehensive data collection programs that take into account country-specific conditions. - 3.1.2 Source data reasonably approximate the definitions, scope, classifications, valuation, and time of recording required. - 3.1.3 Source data are timely. - 3.2 Statistical techniques - 3.2.1 Data compilation employs sound statistical techniques. - 3.2.2 Other statistical procedures (e.g., data adjustments and transformations, and statistical analysis) employ sound statistical techniques. - 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data - 3.3.1 Source data—including censuses, sample surveys and administrative records—are routinely assessed, e.g., for coverage, sample error, response error, and non-sampling error; the results of the assessments are monitored and made available to guide planning. - 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs - 3.4.1 Main intermediate data are validated against other information where applicable. - 3.4.2 Statistical discrepancies in intermediate data are assessed and investigated. - 3.4.3 Statistical discrepancies and other potential indicators of problems in statistical outputs are investigated. - 3.5 Revision studies - 3.5.1 Studies and analyses of revisions are carried out routinely and used to inform statistical processes. ### Serviceability - Statistics are relevant, timely, consistent, and follow a predictable revisions policy. - Elements and indicators: - 4.1 Relevance - 4.1.1 The relevance and practical utility of existing statistics in meeting users’ needs are monitored. - 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity - 4.2.1 Timeliness follows dissemination standards. - 4.2.2 Periodicity follows dissemination standards. - 4.3 Consistency - 4.3.1 Statistics are consistent within the dataset (e.g., accounting identities observed). - 4.3.2 Statistics are consistent or reconcilable over a reasonable period of time. - 4.3.3 Statistics are consistent or reconcilable with those obtained through other data sources and/or statistical frameworks. - 4.4 Revision policy and practice - 4.4.1 Revisions follow a regular, well-established and transparent schedule. - 4.4.2 Preliminary data are clearly identified. - 4.4.3 Studies and analyses of revisions are made public. ### Accessibility - Data and metadata are easily available and assistance to users is adequate. - Elements and indicators: - 5.1 Data accessibility - 5.1.1 Statistics are presented in a way that facilitates proper interpretation and meaningful comparisons (layout and clarity of text, tables, and charts). - 5.1.2 Dissemination media and formats are adequate. - 5.1.3 Statistics are released on the pre-announced schedule. - 5.1.4 Statistics are made available to all users at the same time. - 5.1.5 Non-published (non-confidential) subaggregates are made available upon request. - 5.2 Metadata accessibility - 5.2.1 Documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques is available, and differences from internationally accepted standards, guidelines or good practices are annotated. - 5.2.2 Levels of detail are adapted to the needs of the intended audience. - 5.3 Assistance to users - 5.3.1 Contact person for each subject field is publicized. - 5.3.2 Catalogues of publications, documents, and other services, including information on any charges, are widely available. ### Users’ survey (October 2002) — Norway - Questionnaire sent to 71 users; 35 responses received; response rate 49 percent. - Respondent types (Total Sent / Total Received / In % Received): - Government: 11 / 5 / 45 - Banks (and finance): 12 / 6 / 50 - Other enterprises (and industry organizations): 2 / 2 / 100 - Embassies: 6 / 4 / 67 - Universities (and government funded research institutions): 21 / 7 / 33 - Media: 7 / 1 / 14 - Supervisory, regulatory institutions (inc. Norges Bank): 6 / 5 / 83 - Trade union organization: 2 / 1 / 50 - Other: 4 / 3 / 75 - Unidentified response: 1 - Total: 71 / 35 / 49 - Overall quality ratings (scale 1 to 5; 5 = “excellent”, 1 = “poor”): - National accounts statistics: Average 3.8 (5,2) - Producer price index: Average 3.8 (5,3) - Consumer price index: Average 4.1 (5,3) - Government finance statistics: Average 3.8 (5,2) - Monetary statistics: Average 4.2 (5,3) - Balance of payments statistics: Average 4.2 (5,3) - Key user perceptions and requests: - Most respondents considered methodologies for the five main categories to be sound, unbiased, accurate, and comparable with other countries in the region. - About one quarter of respondents with an opinion regarded national accounts statistics to be of better quality than those of other countries in the region. - Requests for improvements included: - More commodity details in the consumer price index. - Further breakdowns by industrial sectors and for services in the national accounts and producer price index. - Better coverage of sub-annual government finance statistics. - Better information on real estate investment and prices. - Up-to-date and comprehensive information on wage costs. - More resources to enhance reliability of the quarterly national accounts in light of recent significant revisions. - Frequency of compilation was almost universally satisfactory. - Timeliness: clear majority satisfied overall, but a significant minority called for improved timeliness of the national accounts. - Advance release calendars were appreciated and data releases generally met projected dates. - Revisions: most respondents considered enough information was published about revisions, but a significant minority disagreed regarding national accounts statistics. - Accessibility and metadata: - Most respondents said they could readily access official statistics and related information (explanatory notes, methodological descriptions), but a considerable minority reported difficulty accessing metadata. - Most felt available metadata were sufficiently clear and at an adequate level of detail. - Selected tabulated response highlights (Totals): - Which official statistics do you use regularly? (Totals) - National accounts (NA): 32 - Producer prices (PPI): 19 - Consumer prices (CPI): 29 - Government finance statistics (GFS): 16 - Monetary and financial statistics (Monetary): 25 - Balance of payments (BOP): 17 - From which institutions do you obtain the official statistics? - Statistics Norway: 35 - Norges Bank: 31 - Other official Norwegian agencies: 16 - International or regional organizations: 20 - News media: 9 - Private sector agencies: 12 - Other sources: 4 - Do you refer to official descriptions of the sources and methods used? - Yes: 24 - No: 9 - Primary purposes for use (Totals) - Analysis of current developments for short-term decision making: 21 - Analysis of trends for longer-term policy formulation: 25 - Econometric model building and forecasting: 14 - Economic research: 16 - Comparison with economic developments in other countries: 25 - General economic background: 25 - Other: 8 - Coverage and detail (Totals, Yes/No): - In general, are you satisfied with the coverage of official statistics? Yes 25 / No 4 (for NA responses in detailed breakdowns see table) - In general, are you satisfied with the official statistics in terms of their level of detail? Yes 26 / No 3 (for NA responses in detailed breakdowns see table) - Periodicity and timeliness: - Satisfied with frequency of compilation (Totals, Yes/No): 29 / 0 (for NA) - Consider statistics disseminated with appropriate timeliness (Totals, Yes/No): 17 / 10 (for NA) - Other dissemination practices: - Know of publicly disseminated calendar announcing release dates (Totals, Yes/No): 18 / 6 (for NA) - If calendar exists, are releases on announced dates? (Totals, Yes/No): 22 / 0 (for NA) - Is there enough information about revisions? (Totals, Yes/No): 18 / 10 (for NA) - Accessibility (Totals, Yes/No): - Can you easily access the official statistics? 28 / 1 (for NA) - Can you easily access information pertaining to official statistics? 19 / 8 (for NA) - Is methodology information sufficiently clear and adequate in detail? 21 / 4 (Totals) - Formats used to access official statistics (Totals): - Hard copy official releases: 22 - Statistical publications: 26 - Data specifically requested: 16 - Official policy papers: 18 - Private sector summaries and analyses: 8 - Newspapers: 7 - Electronic: Official websites 34 / Private sector websites 6 / E-mail requests 16 / CD-Rom or similar 7 *Source: _cr03207 - 0.1 Legal and institutional (PDF chapter content provided).* --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2003/_cr03207.pdf_