The World Economic Outlook (WEO) Database April 2003
- Annual data CSV
- All countries CSV
- Advanced economies CSV
- Developing and transition countries CSV
- Regional group aggregates CSV
- All countries CSV
- Advanced economies CSV
- Developing and transition countries CSV
- Regional group aggregates CSV
- Advanced economies CSV
- Advanced economies CSV
- Advanced economies CSV
- Developing and transition country groups CSV
- Regional group aggregates CSV
Changes to the database:
Growth and inflation projections for Serbia and Montenegro are included.
Growth and inflation projections are included for all countries through 2003.
Middle East, Malta, and Turkey is replaced by the title Middle East and Turkey. The country composition remains the same.
No changes were introduced.
No changes were introduced.
- Greece is included in the euro area.
- Cyprus is included in Advanced Economies. It was previously included in Middle East and Europe under Developing Countries.
- Asia is replaced by the title Developing Asia. There is no difference in the composition of the group.
- Middle East and Europe is replaced by the title Middle East and Turkey. Cyprus is no longer included in the group.
- Two new subgroups comprise Countries in Transition. Commonwealth of Independent States and Mongolia replaces Trancaucasus and central Asia and the composition of Central and Eastern Europe has changed: the group no longer includes Moldova and Ukraine. Please refer to the introduction to the Statistical Appendix for details on WEO regional and analytical groups.
About the World Economic Outlook (WEO) Database
The WEO database is created during the biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) exercise, which begins in January and June of each year and results in the WEO publication, which is released in April and September. Selected series that are available in the publication are now available on this website on the day of the WEO press conference.
The WEO exercise is coordinated by the World Economic Studies Division in the Research Department. The projections and analysis contained in the World Economic Outlook are an integral element of the IMF's ongoing surveillance of economic development and policies in its member countries and of the global economic system. The survey of prospects and policies is the product of a comprehensive interdepartmental review of world economic developments, which draws primarily on the information IMF staff gathers through its consultations with member countries.
WEO projections are prepared by the country desk economists in area departments on the basis of 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, the projections are updated for each WEO exercise. Other countries provide updates and revisions to their projections both during the WEO exercise and at the time of the IMF's regular Article IV consultations with member countries or in connection with the use of Fund resources, unless world developments necessitate more frequent updates. For details on the country composition of WEO groups please refer to the introduction of the WEO statisticsal Appendix.
How the WEO estimates differ from those in International Financial Statistics
The data appearing in the World Economic Outlook are provided to the Research Department at the time of the WEO exercise, not on a continual basis. The historical data and projections are based upon the information gathered by the IMF country desk economists in the context of their missions and ongoing analysis of the evolving situation in member countries; projections are staff estimates. The data published in the Statistics Department’s International Financial Statistics and CD-ROM product are gathered as part of an ongoing data collection effort in which member country statistical agencies provide public statistics to the IMF. Because of the difference in data collection techniques, methodological issues, focus, and timing, the estimates in International Financial Statistics and the World Economic Outlook can differ.
Data and File Conventions
Please note the following:
- 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" which designates the annual
frequency.
- Domestic economy series are in index form; the focus of the series is its percentage change.
-
External account series are in billions of U.S. dollars.
Algeria Argentina Australia Bangladesh Brazil Cameroon Canada Chile China Colombia Congo, Democratic Republic of Côte d'Ivoire Egypt France Germany |
India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Korea Malaysia Mexico Morocco Netherlands Nigeria Pakistan |
Philippines Poland Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Province of China Thailand Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Venezuela |
World aggregates for the following annual series are provided from 1970:
- Real gross domestic product (annual percent change)
- Gross domestic product (values at market exchange rates and purchasing power parity [PPP] exchange rates)
- Inflation (annual percent change)
- 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)
-
In many cases no level data exist for group aggregates because growth rates are
aggregated.
Annual percentages of real GDP are year-on-year changes.
Please note:
- Data through 1991 apply to west Germany only.
- For developing countries, figures for recent years are IMF staff estimates. Data for some countries are for fiscal years.
- For countries in transition, data for some countries refer to real net material product (NMP) or are estimates based on NMP. For many countries, figures for recent years are IMF staff estimates. The figures should be interpreted only as indicative of broad orders of magnitude because reliable, comparable data are not generally available. In particular, the growth of output of new private enterprises or of the informal economy is not fully reflected in the recent figures.
-
In many cases no level data exist for group aggregates because growth rates are aggregates of
percent changes rather than levels.
Real GDP is expressed in billions of national currency units; the base year is country-specific. The last available year is consistent with that which appears in the statistical tables in the WEO publication.
Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (local currencies)
GDP is expressed in billions of national currency units. The last available year is consistent with that which appears for GDP in constant prices in the statistical tables in the WEO publication.
Gross Domestic Product in U.S. Dollars
GDP is expressed in billions of U.S. dollars. These values are based upon GDP in national currency and the exchange rate projections provided by the country desk economists for developing and transition countries. Exchanges rates for advanced economies are set as one part of the WEO assumptions during the WEO exercise. The last available year is consistent with that which appears for GDP in constant prices in the statistical tables in the WEO publication.
Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Constant Prices (local currency per person)
GDP is expressed in constant national currencies per person. Data are derived by dividing constant price GDP by the total population. The last available year is consistent with that which appears for GDP in the statistical tables of the WEO publication.
Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (local currency per person)
GDP is expressed in current national currencies per person. Data are derived by dividing current price GDP by the total population. The last available year is consistent with that which appears for GDP in the statistical tables of the WEO publication.
Per Capita Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices (U.S. dollars per person)
GDP is expressed in current U.S. dollars per person. Data are derived by first converting GDP in local currencies to U.S. dollars and then dividing GDP by the total population. The last available year is consistent with that which appears for GDP in the statistical tables of the WEO publication.
Shares of Aggregate GDP Based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Valuation of Country GDP
This data form the basis for the country weights used to generate the World Economic Outlook country group composites for the domestic economy. The data are expressed as percent of the world total.
Please note:
- The IMF is not a primary source for purchasing power parity (PPP) data. WEO weights have been created from primary sources and are used solely for purposes of generating country group composites. For primary source information, please refer to one of the following sources: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank, or the Penn World Tables.
-
For further information see Box A.1 in the May 2000 World Economic Outlook for a
summary of the revised PPP-based weights, and Annex IV of the May 1993
World Economic
Outlook
.
See also
Anne Marie Gulde and
Marianne Schulze-Ghattas, "Purchasing Power Parity
Based Weights for the World Economic Outlook," in
Staff Studies for the
World Economic Outlook
(Washington: IMF, December 1993), pp. 106-23.
Data for inflation are annual percentage change averages for the year, not end-of-period data.
Please note:
- For many developing countries, figures for recent years are IMF staff estimates. Data for some countries are for fiscal years.
-
For many countries in transition, inflation for the earlier years is measured on the basis of a
retail price index. Consumer price indices with a broader and more up-to-date coverage are
typically used for more recent years.
General Government Fiscal Balances
Data are on a national income accounts basis. Please refer to Box A1 for a summary of the policy assumptions underlying the projections.
Please note:
- Australia: data exclude net advances (primarily privatization receipts and net policy-related lending).
- Austria: based on ESA95 methodology, according to which swap income is not included.
- France: data are adjusted for valuation changes of the foreign exchange stabilization fund.
- Ireland: to maintain comparability, data exclude the impact of discharging future pension liabilities of the formerly state-owned telecoms company at a cost of 1.8 percent of GDP in 1999.
- Korea: data cover the consolidated central government including the social security funds but excluding privatization.
- New Zealand: data from 1992 onward are on an accrual basis and are not strictly comparable with previous cash-based data.
Output gaps are calculated as actual GDP less potential GDP as a percent of potential GDP. Estimates of output gaps are subject to a significant margin of uncertainty. For a discussion of approaches to calculating potential output, see Paula R. De Masi, "IMF Estimates of Potential Output: Theory and Practice," in Staff Studies for the World Economic Outlook (Washington: IMF, December 1997), pp. 40-46.
Please note:
- Data through 1991 apply to west Germany only.
General Government Structural Balances
Data are on a national income accounts basis. The structural budget position is defined as the actual budget deficit (or surplus) less the effects of cyclical deviations of output from potential output. Because of the margin of uncertainty that attaches to estimates of cyclical gaps and to tax and expenditure elasticities with respect to national income, indicators of structural budget positions should be interpreted as broad orders of magnitude. Moreover, it is important to note that changes in structural budget balances are not necessarily attributable to policy changes but may reflect the built-in momentum of existing expenditure programs. In the period beyond that for which specific consolidation programs exist, it is assumed that the structural deficit remains unchanged.
Please note:
- Australia: data exclude commonwealth government privatization receipts.
- European Union and euro area aggregates exclude Luxembourg.
- Excludes one-off receipts from the sale of mobile telephone licenses equivalent to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2000 for Germany, 0.1 percent of GDP in 2001 and 2002 for France, 1.2 percent of GDP in 2000 for Italy, 2.4 percent of GDP in 2000 for the United Kingdom, 0.1 percent of GDP in 2000 for Spain, 0.7 percent of GDP in 2000 for the Netherlands, 0.2 percent of GDP in 2001 for Belgium, and 0.4 percent of GDP in 2000 for Austria, 0.3 percent of GDP in 2000 for Portugal, and 0.1 percent of GDP in 2002 for Ireland. Also excludes one-off receipts from asset sales sizable asset transactions.
- Germany: the estimate of the fiscal impulse for 1995 is affected by the assumption by the federal government of the debt of the Treuhandanstalt and various other agencies, which were formerly held outside the general government sector. At the public sector level, there would be an estimated withdrawal of fiscal impulse amounting to just over 1 percent of GDP.
- New Zealand: data exclude privatization proceeds.
- Norway: data exclude oil.
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. The composition of the group aggregates appearing in the table "Emerging Market Economies: Net Capital Flows" differs from the standard WEO groups. "Total Emerging Markets" includes developing countries, countries in transition, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China, and Israel. Please refer to the notes below for additional details.
The series in the data file are organized as they appear in the statistical table:
-
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
Please note:
- The total excludes Hong Kong SAR.
- Change in reserves: a minus sign indicates an increase.
- The sum of the current account balance, net private capital flows, net official flows, and the change in reserves equals, with the opposite sign, the sum of the capital and financial account and errors and omissions. For regional current account balances, see Table 27 of the Statistical Appendix.
- "Developing Asia" includes Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China.
- "Middle East and Turkey" includes Israel and Malta.
External Debt and Debt Service
External debt data are expressed in billions of US dollars and reflect total external debt at year end for developing and transition countries only. External debt data are not collected for advanced economies.
Please note:
- 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. The projections incorporate the impact of exceptional financing items.
Queries about the WEO database should be sent to the e-mail address weo@imf.org.
This site provides the most frequently requested information from the WEO database consistent with the data published in the World Economic Outlook. Please note the following:
- The end dates of country-specific series correspond to those appearing in the WEO publication.
- Not all of the data appearing in the WEO publication are disseminated through this site.
- Over time, additional information may be released.
- Customized requests for WEO data will no longer be filled.
The data tables, in the WEO Database Index, are presented in Comma Delimited, CSV text file format. Although this file format allows for the data table to be easily retrieved into a variety of applications, they are best viewed within one that will allow one to easily manipulate data that is in columnar format. Common examples of such applications are those that are used to create spreadsheets and databases.
If you don't have access to either a spreadsheet or a database application, you can also retrieve the data table file into either an ASCII text-editing or a word-processing application. However, since neither of these two application types has the facility to easily format the width of the data columns, quite a bit of manual reformatting will be required to properly view the data.
Before you save the data table to disk, it is recommended that you view it first to make sure that it contains the data you are interested in.
To View a Data Table
To view a data table, within your browser window, click on the CSV link that is located just to the right of the table name.
Alternatively, you can right-click on the CSV link and then select "Open in New Window." This viewing method is particularly useful if you want to open several tables for viewing at the same time. Simply repeat the steps for each table you want to open for viewing.
File Viewing Tip: If you find that the table is wider than can be viewed within the width of your screen, use your browser's Search key to locate key information that you are looking for. |
To Save a Data Table to Disk
To save a data table to disk, highlight the CSV link, right-click, and then select "Save Target As." Make sure that you save the file as a CSV Text Document.
File Saving Tip: If you want to save the data table to a diskette, check its file size beforehand to confirm that it is small enough to fit on the diskette.
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To Retrieve a Data Table in to a Spreadsheet Application or Import the Data Table into a Database Application
To retrieve the data table into a spreadsheet application, proceed with the steps that you normally go through to open an existing spreadsheet.
To import the data table into a database, create a new table and then import the data table file into the newly created database table.
Note that because the data table is formatted as a CSV Text Document, you may be prompted to set the file import options, which will ensure that the data is properly formatted when the file is retrieved into the spreadsheet or imported into the database table. The key file import options and their associated values are listed in the table below.
Import Option | Value |
Data Type | Comma Delimited |
File Origin | Windows ANSI |
Text Qualifier | {"} |
Field Delimiter | {,} |
First Row | Field Names |
Additionally, please note that null field values are represented by the phrase "n.a." You may need to replace all instances of "n.a." with a blank field before importing the data table into your spreadsheet/database.
Tips:
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Format Setting | Value | |
Page Size | Legal | |
Page Orientation | Landscape | |
Font Type | Any proportional font such as Line Printer, Arial, or Universe. A fixed font such as Times Roman or Courier will increase the required line length. | |
Font Size | 8 point or smaller | |
Margins |
Left = 0" Right = 0" |
Actual margin width will be set to the lowest default value for your printer. |
To Retrieve a Data Table into an ASCII Text Editor or Word-Processing Application
To retrieve the data table into either an ASCII text editor or word-processing application, proceed with the steps that you normally go through to open a text file or document.
If you are retrieving the data table into a word-processing application, you may be prompted to convert the file format. If yes, indicate that you are converting from "ASCII Text."
Tips for Retrieving a Data Table into a
Word-Processing Application:
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Format Setting | Value | |
Page Size | Legal | |
Page Orientation | Landscape | |
Font Type | Any proportional font such as Line Printer, Arial, or Universe. A fixed font such as Times Roman or Courier will increase the required line length. | |
Font Size | 8 point or smaller | |
Margins |
Left = 0" Right = 0" |
Actual margin width will be set to the lowest default value for your printer. |