Government Finance Statistics
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Government Finance Statistics
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Bibliographic details
- Session: OL 26.154
- Location: Course conducted online
- Dates: May 1, 2026 - April 15, 2027 (50 weeks)
- Delivery method: Online Training
- Primary language: English
- Status: Apply online by April 1, 2027
Training program overview
- Session No.: OL 26.154
- Location: Course conducted online
- Date: May 1, 2026 - April 15, 2027 (50 weeks)
- Delivery Method: Online Training
- Primary Language: English
- Target Audience: Officials whose main responsibility is compiling and disseminating fiscal statistics.
Qualifications and technical requirements
- Participants are expected to have a degree in economics, public financial management, statistics, or equivalent experience.
- Access requirements: a computer with a reliable Internet connection and a Google Chrome web browser.
- Skill requirements: basic Microsoft Excel skills are essential.
Course description and scope
- Presented by the Statistics Department.
- Focuses on both the conceptual framework of government finance statistics (GFS) as presented in the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014) and on practical aspects of data compilation.
- GFSM 2014 is harmonized with the System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).
- Covered topics:
- Basic concepts and definitions, and accounting principles.
- Detailed classifications.
- The GFS framework, including coverage and accounting rules (including accrual accounting).
- Balance sheets and debt.
- Sources and methods used for compiling GFS.
- Dissemination of GFS and its uses in fiscal policymaking and analyses.
Course objectives
- Explain the GFS integrated framework, understand its advantages and the importance of comprehensive, consistent, and internationally comparable fiscal data for fiscal policy design, monitoring, and evaluation.
- Apply the main macroeconomic principles to identify public sector institutional units and distinguish between general government units and public corporations.
- Apply the basic macroeconomic concepts, principles, and accounting rules to identify, classify, and record transactions, other economic flows, and stock positions.
- Explain how specific government operations and other flows outside the government control impact the fiscal deficit/surplus, debt, and net worth.
- Describe the relationships between the main fiscal aggregates, and between the fiscal aggregates and other macroeconomic indicators.
References