National Accounts: impact of ESA 2010 changes announced
11 Jun 2014 04:22 PM
The Office for National
Statistics has published several articles setting out the effects of the new
European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) on the level of current price
GDP
The articles describe changes
that are part of the overall package of improvements that will be implemented
in this year’s Blue and Pink Books. The overall package was described in
the article published on 28 April. Further articles on 29 May described the
impact on current price GDP from those improvements not related to ESA 2010.The
articles complement those by giving estimates of the impact on the level of
current price GDP from the changes due to implementation of ESA 2010. The
estimated impact of the changes on the headline real GDP growth figure (the
chained volume measure) is not yet available and will be published
later.
The latest estimate of the total
impact of all the improvements planned for September 2014 (including those
detailed this week and on 29 May) shows an estimated increase in the level of
GDP in current prices in 2009 of 4.6%, or around £65 billion. That
is made up of £32 billion stemming from the ESA 2010 related changes
announced and the £33 billion of other improvements already announced on
29 May.
The major changes detailed in
this weeks articles are listed below:
-
Treatment of most Research and
Development expenditures as investment rather than intermediate consumption
will increase Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and boost the level of
current price GDP by approximately £22bn in 2009
-
Any weapons systems which are
classed as fixed assets will move from intermediate consumption to GFCF, and
increase the level of current price GDP by approximately £3½bn in
2009
-
The cost of decommissioning
sites (such as nuclear power stations) will now also be counted as GFCF,
increasing the level of current price GDP by approximately £¼bn in
2009
-
Spending on low cost tools used
in the manufacturing process, which were previously excluded from GFCF, will
boost the level of current price GDP by approximately £¼bn in
2009
-
The new treatment of funded
defined benefit pension schemes (previously discussed on 28 April) will
increase the level of GDP in current prices by approximately £5bn in
2009
In addition, an article
detailing changes to the measurement of trade, due to the introduction of new
international standards, is also being published. These changes include: the
treatment of the import and export of semi-manufactured goods where there is no
change in ownership; improvements in the measurement of trade in non-monetary
gold; and trade in those goods where the goods do not enter the UK switching
from being a trade in services to a trade in goods. However, these new
treatments will have no impact on the level of total GDP.
Commenting on the improvements,
ONS Chief Economic Adviser Joe Grice said:
“Today, ONS sets out more
details about the plans it has already announced for this year’s Blue and
Pink Books to improve the measurement of the UK’s changing and evolving
economy. These plans are part of an agenda shared with our European and other
international partners. They will help ensure that ONS continues to publish
high quality and trusted statistics about our economy, as the economy itself
evolves.”
ENDS
Background
notes
-
Full impacts article is available.
-
Articles giving details of each
of the changes are available here:
a. Measuring and Capitalising Research & Development in the UK
National Accounts.
b. Implementation framework for Research and
Development in the United Kingdom National Accounts.
c. Transition to ESA10: Capitalising Government Spending on Military
Weapons.
d. Methodological Changes to the Measurement of Trade due to the
Introduction of New International Standards
-
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-
Details of the policy governing
the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html
or from the Media Relations Office email: media.relations@ons.gsi.gov.uk