ESA2010

Statistics Iceland is in the process of implementing the new international standards in the field of national accounts and external trade statistics.

National Accounts
The ESA 2010 regulations was introduced in September 2014 to update and adapt the national accounts in line with the development of methods in the area of economic statistics. The update will reflect the changes in economic conditions that the national accounts reflect.
Iceland complies with international guidelines on national accounts provided for in the UN’s System of National Accounts (SNA) and the European version European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA). Iceland has an obligation under the EEA agreement to comply with the EU’s guidelines for national accounts statistics. EEA countries are required to implement the ESA 2010 by September 2014. International guidelines have recently been revised, ESA 1995 has been updated with ESA 2010 and1993 SNA has been updated with 2008 SNA.

The most important changes that will affect the level of GDP in Iceland are:
• Research and development services will be treated as fixed capital formation. This will raise the level of the gross domestic product (GDP).
• Change in ownership of goods that are sent for processing between countries will decide whether the goods are counted for in the foreign trade statistics or not.
• New rules will be applied to registration of goods bought and sold abroad (Merchanting).
Information about the standards and the changes:

 

 

External trade statistics
New manuals for international trade in goods statistics and international trade in services statistics was implemented in September 2014. The methodological changes will lead to different published results for trade in goods statistics and the results published for Balance of Payments.
The most important changes in international trade in goods statistics and international trade in services statistics are:

• Import of fuels purchased abroad by domestic ships and aircraft will be included in trade in goods statistics.
• Revenues of manufacturing services on physical input owned by others will be included in trade in services statistics.
• Merchanting will no longer be part of trade in services statistics and will be included in trade in goods in BOP.

These changes will have major influence on published results of trade in goods statistics, trade in services statistics and Balance of Payment statistics. Statistics Iceland will therefore publish reconciliation tables according to the recommendation of the United Nations.
The manual for international trade in goods statistics is the International Merchandise Trade Statistics, Concepts and Definitions 2010 (IMTS 2010), United Nations, and for international trade in services statistics is the Manual on Statistics of International Trade In Services 2010 (MSITS 2010), United Nations.
Information about the manuals and the changes:

 

Balance of payment statistics
New standards for compilation of Balance of Payment statistics will be implemented in Sepember. Further information is available at the CBI‘s website.

 

Further information on the changes