A Global Picture of Public Wealth

IMF Blog, June 18, 2019

Source details

Database covers 38 countries’ public assets and liabilities and includes low-income, emerging market, and advanced economies.
Expands coverage from the October Fiscal Monitor by adding seven countries: Mexico, Malta, North Macedonia, Senegal, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Lithuania.
The countries in the database now cover almost 63% of global GDP.
For 17 countries there are time series data at the public sector level.
Data are provided by level of government and include both financial and nonfinancial corporations.
Granular asset categories include land, buildings, cash, and equity; liabilities include debt, loans, and pensions.

Total public sector assets in these 38 countries are worth $103 trillion, or 216% of GDP.
Assets consist of public infrastructure such as bridges and roads, financial assets such as bank deposits, as well as natural resource reserves in the ground.
Total liabilities stand at $93 trillion.
Liabilities comprise some $44 trillion of general government debt, $22 trillion of current pension obligations, and the debt of state-owned enterprises.
Net worth—assets minus liabilities—comes to $10 trillion or 21% of GDP for this group of countries.

Goal: better assess fiscal risks and evaluate government policies by knowing more about what you own and owe.
The Fiscal Monitor shows that having large assets does not necessarily reduce how vulnerable a country is to large debts; this will depend on the nature of the assets.
The Fiscal Monitor includes a fiscal stress test for the United States, analysis of public investment plans financed by a domestic revenue mobilization effort in Indonesia, and the crossholdings within the public sector in Japan.
These public sector balance sheet data enable fiscal stress tests and other tools used by investors and financial market experts.

Better management of government assets could earn 3 percent of GDP in extra revenues each year—that is more than the interest payments advanced countries pay to cover their debt.
Countries doing balance sheet work:
- United Kingdom: spent several years compiling data and is currently undertaking a balance sheet review.
- Australia and New Zealand: have looked at the balance sheet effects of policies for years.
The IMF has used the public sector balance sheet approach in consultations with member countries, for instance in some of the Nordic countries.

The data are made free and publicly available to encourage transparency and more research.
Intended uses for academics and research institutions:
- Better understand the state of a government’s finances and their evolution over time.
- Compare developments across similar countries.
- Explore key questions around balance sheets and macroeconomic links.
- Enable a more meaningful debate around returns on public assets.

Jason Harris; Abdelhak Senhadji — June 18, 2019.