World Economic Outlook Database April 2002
World Economic Outlook
Source details
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- World Economic Outlook Database April 2002
Other formats
Overview
- The WEO database is created during the biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) exercise, which begins in January and June and results in the WEO publication, released in May and October.
- Selected series available in the WEO publication are provided in the WEO Database April 2002 at the time of the release of the Advance Copy of the WEO Publication; figures may be revised to maintain consistency with the published World Economic Outlook, which remains the document of record.
- The WEO exercise is coordinated by the World Economic Studies Division in the Research Department and draws primarily on information gathered through IMF consultations with member countries.
- WEO projections are prepared by country desk economists using internationally consistent assumptions about world economic activity, exchange rates, and conditions in international financial and commodity markets.
- For approximately 50 of the largest economies, referred to as Group A countries and which account for 90 percent of world output, projections are updated for each WEO exercise.
Data coverage and main variables
- World aggregates for the following annual series are provided from 1970:
- Gross domestic product (values at market exchange rates and purchasing power parity [PPP] exchange rates)
- World trade volume of goods and services (annual percent change)
- World exports of goods and services (billions of U.S. dollars)
- World imports of goods and services (billions of U.S. dollars)
- Available WEO series and CSV files include:
- Real Gross Domestic Product (annual percent change)
- Real Gross Domestic Product, Constant Prices (billions of local currency units)
- Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (billions of local currency units)
- Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (billions of U.S. dollars)
- Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Constant Prices (local currency per person)
- Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (local currency per person)
- Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (U.S. dollars per person)
- Inflation (annual percent change)
- General Government Fiscal Balances (percent of GDP)
- Output Gaps (percent of potential GDP)
- General Government Structural Balances (percent of potential GDP)
- Net Capital Flows (billions of US dollars)
- Regional group aggregates and developing and transition country group CSVs
Group composition changes and classifications
- Changes to the database (selected):
- May 2002: "Middle East, Malta, and Turkey" is replaced by the title "Middle East and Turkey"; the country composition remains the same.
- October 2001, May 2001: Greece is included in the euro area; Cyprus is included in Advanced Economies (previously in Middle East and Europe under Developing Countries).
- "Asia" is replaced by "Developing Asia" with no change in composition.
- Two new subgroups comprise Countries in Transition: "Commonwealth of Independent States and Mongolia" replaces "Trancaucasus and central Asia"; composition of Central and Eastern Europe changed (no longer includes Moldova and Ukraine).
- WEO group aggregate notes:
- "Developing Asia" includes Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China.
- "Crisis countries" includes Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
- "Middle East and Turkey" includes Israel.
- "Total Emerging Markets" includes developing countries, countries in transition, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China, and Israel.
Methodological distinctions and data sources
- WEO estimates differ from International Financial Statistics (IFS) because:
- WEO data are provided to Research Department at the time of the WEO exercise, based on information gathered by IMF country desk economists and staff estimates; IFS data are gathered as part of an ongoing data collection effort by member country statistical agencies.
- Differences arise from data collection techniques, methodological issues, focus, and timing.
- Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) weights:
- WEO is not a primary source for PPP data; WEO weights are created from primary sources solely for generating country group composites.
- Primary source PPP data referenced include the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank, and the Penn World Tables.
Data definitions, conventions, and special treatments
- Conventions:
- Domestic economy series are expressed in billions of national currency units.
- External accounts series are expressed in billions of U.S. dollars.
- Indexes are generally based on 1995.
- Dates are expressed as the four digit year followed by "A1" to designate annual frequency.
- WEO group aggregate domestic economy series are in index form (focus on percentage change); external account series are in billions of U.S. dollars.
- Null field values are represented by the phrase "n.a."
- Real Gross Domestic Product, Constant Prices:
- Expressed in billions of national currency units; the base year is country-specific.
- Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices:
- Expressed in billions of national currency units.
- Gross Domestic Product in U.S. Dollars:
- Based on GDP in national currency and exchange rate projections provided by country desk economists for developing and transition countries; exchange rates for advanced economies are set as part of WEO assumptions.
- Per capita GDP measures:
- Constant local currency per person, current local currency per person, and current U.S. dollars per person derived from respective GDP measures divided by total population.
- Inflation:
- Data for inflation are annual percentage change averages for the year, not end-of-period data.
- For many developing countries, figures for recent years are IMF staff estimates; for many transition countries earlier years use retail price index measures and more recent years use broader consumer price indices.
- Fiscal data:
- Data are on a national income accounts basis.
- Structural budget position is defined as the actual budget deficit (or surplus) less effects of cyclical deviations of output from potential output.
- Structural balance estimates are subject to uncertainty and should be interpreted as broad orders of magnitude; changes are not necessarily attributable to policy changes.
- Specific country adjustments and exclusions:
- One-off receipts from sale of mobile telephone licenses: Germany 2.5 percent of GDP in 2000; France 0.1 percent of GDP in 2001 and 2002; Italy 1.2 percent of GDP in 2000; United Kingdom 2.4 percent of GDP in 2000; Netherlands 0.7 percent of GDP in 2000; Belgium 0.2 percent of GDP in 2001; Austria 0.4 percent of GDP in 2000.
- Australia: data exclude net advances (primarily privatization receipts and net policy-related lending); commonwealth government privatization receipts excluded in fiscal series.
- Austria: based on ESA95 methodology (swap income not included).
- France: data adjusted for valuation changes of the foreign exchange stabilization fund; fiscal data exclude mobile telephone license receipts.
- Korea: data include social security transactions (operations of the public pension plan).
- New Zealand: data from 1992 onward are on an accrual basis and not strictly comparable with previous cash-based data; fiscal data exclude privatization proceeds.
- United Kingdom: data exclude asset sales; fiscal data exclude mobile telephone license receipts.
- Germany: fiscal impulse for 1995 affected by assumption of Treuhandanstalt debt; public sector level would show an estimated withdrawal of fiscal impulse amounting to just over 1 percent of GDP; data exclude mobile telephone license receipts.
- Norway: fiscal series exclude oil.
- Output gaps:
- Calculated as actual GDP less potential GDP as a percent of potential GDP.
- Estimates are subject to significant margin of uncertainty.
- Net private capital flows and external accounts:
- Net private capital flows comprise net direct investment, net portfolio investment, and other long- and short-term net investment flows including official and private borrowing.
- Composition of "Emerging Market Economies: Net Capital Flows" differs from standard WEO groups; "Total Emerging Markets" definition noted above.
- Series in the data file are organized as: Private capital flows, net; Private direct investment, net; Private portfolio investment, net; Other private capital flows, net; Official flows, net; Change in reserves; Memorandum: Current account.
- The total excludes Hong Kong SAR.
- Change in reserves: a minus sign indicates an increase.
- The difference between the current account and the sum of net private capital flows, net official flows, and change in reserves is the capital account and errors and omissions.
- External debt:
- Expressed in billions of US dollars and reflect total external debt at year end for developing and transition countries only; not collected for advanced economies.
- Total debt includes all short- and long-term debt.
- Debt-service payments refer to actual payments of interest on total debt plus actual amortization payments on long-term debt; projections incorporate the impact of exceptional financing items.
Data limitations and interpretation guidance
- For developing countries, figures for recent years are IMF staff estimates; data for some countries refer to fiscal years.
- For countries in transition, some data refer to real net material product (NMP) or are estimates based on NMP; figures should be interpreted only as indicative of broad orders of magnitude because reliable, comparable data are not generally available.
- In many cases no level data exist for group aggregates because growth rates are aggregates of percent changes rather than levels.
- Structural budget balance and output gap estimates carry uncertainty; assumptions about structural deficits beyond consolidation periods assume the structural deficit remains unchanged.
File formats, conventions, and user guidance
- Data tables are presented in Comma Delimited, CSV text file format.
- Domestic economy series are in national currency units; external accounts series are in U.S. dollars.
- CSV import conventions and recommended import options:
- Data Type: Comma Delimited
- File Origin: Windows ANSI
- Text Qualifier: {"}
- Field Delimiter: {,}
- First Row: Field Names
- Recommended format settings for printing/viewing: Page Size Legal; Page Orientation Landscape; Font Size 8 point or smaller; Left and Right margins = 0" (actual margin width set to lowest default for printer).
- Guidance for using files:
- View the CSV link to inspect contents before saving.
- To save: use "Save Target As" and save as a CSV Text Document.
- To retrieve into a spreadsheet or database, open or import the CSV and set import options as above; replace "n.a." with blank fields if necessary.
- To retrieve into ASCII text editor or word processor, indicate conversion from "ASCII Text" if prompted.
Access, queries, and availability
- The end dates of country-specific series correspond to those appearing in the WEO publication.
- Not all data appearing in the WEO publication are disseminated through the WEO database files; additional information may be released over time.
- Customized requests for WEO data will no longer be filled.
- Queries about the WEO database should be sent to the e-mail address weo@imf.org.
Content in this bundle
- Capflow (CSV)
- D Pc A (CSV)
- D Pc B (CSV)
- D Pc C (CSV)
- Debt (CSV)
- Gdp Pc A (CSV)
- Gdp Pc B (CSV)
- Gdp Pc C (CSV)
- Ggb (CSV)
- Ggsb (CSV)
- Growth A (CSV)
- Growth B (CSV)
- Growth C (CSV)
- Growth D (CSV)
- Ngap (CSV)
- Ngdp A (CSV)
- Ngdp B (CSV)
- Ngdp C (CSV)
- Ngdp R A (CSV)
- Ngdp R B (CSV)
- Ngdp R C (CSV)
- Ngdpd A (CSV)
- Ngdpd B (CSV)
- Ngdpd C (CSV)
- Pcpi A (CSV)
- Pcpi B (CSV)
- Pcpi C (CSV)
- Pcpi D (CSV)
- Ppp A (CSV)
- Ppp B (CSV)
- Ppp C (CSV)
- R Pc A (CSV)
- R Pc B (CSV)
- R Pc C (CSV)
- W1 (CSV)