Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Central government revenue and expenditure
Topic: Public sector
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Responsible division
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Division for Public Finance
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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Total revenue: Total gross revenue before transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global.
Total expenditure: Total gross expenditure before transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global.
Surplus before net transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global: Total revenue minus total expenditure.
Surplus before financial transactions: Surplus after net transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global.
Gross financing including debt instalments: Deficit before financial transactions plus lending minus repayments and debt instalments.
Financing: How the deficit (or surplus) before net transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global is financed, distributed by main groups of financial instruments.
Type: Revenue and expenditure are classified in main groups by type, mainly based on whether the transaction is related to operation or investments, whether services are offered in return or not, and what kind of economic function the individual transaction has. Originally the distribution by type was based on the National Accounts' distinctions, but over time this has changed somewhat.
Programme category: Expenditure is classified by main purpose of the individual expenditure item.
Financial instrument: Rough classification of financing by financial instrument, with a distinction between deposits, loans, short-term securities, medium and long-term securities, and equity (shares, capital deposits etc.).
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Standard classifications
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Not relevant.
Administrative information
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Regional level
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National level only.
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Frequency and timeliness
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Figures are published 35-45 days after the end of each quarter. Annual figures are published with the figures for the fourth quarter.
Monthly figures for revenue and expeniture are only published in StatBank. They are updated on the last workday of the following month and this update is not included in the overview of planned releases and events.
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International reporting
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Not relevant.
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Microdata
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The micro data are stored in the SAS database.
Background
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Background and purpose
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The purpose is to give the public access to quarterly figures for the central government's fiscal account, including the National Insurance Scheme. Quarterly figures are available from the first quarter 1985.
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Users and applications
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The statistics are processed for use in the National Accounts. Other important users are the Ministry of Finance, the IMF and mass media.
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Equal treatment of users
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No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.
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Coherence with other statistics
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The statistics are not based on international standards. The figures for the central government's fiscal accounts are in principle final at the time of publishing. Annual figures from the statistics are included in processed form in the statistics General government revenue and expenditure and the annual and quarterly statistics are included in the National Accounts.
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Legal authority
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The Statistics Act, § 2-2
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EEA reference
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Not relevant.
Production
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Population
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The population comprises all administrative bodies that report to the central government's fiscal account. Non-corporate state enterprises and state lending institutions are partially included (most of them on a net basis), but not public corporations.
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Data sources and sampling
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The central government's fiscal account is an administrative register collected from the Ministry of Finance.
Not relevant.
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Collection of data, editing and estimations
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Not relevant.
This mostly consists of checking that the accounts balance (i.e. that expenditures equal the sum of revenues and net financial transactions).
Not relevant.
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Seasonal adjustment
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Not relevant
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Confidentiality
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Not relevant.
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Comparability over time and space
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One tries to avoid great breaks in the series by presenting only main groups of revenues and expenditures in the tables. Breaks may still occur, since the central government fiscal account's chart of accounts constantly is being adjusted by resolutions in the National Assembly.
Accuracy and reliability
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Sources of error and uncertainty
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Errors may occur while aggregating main item, programme area and financial instrument.
Not relevant.
Variance: Not relevant
Bias: Not relevant
Non-response: Not relevant
Register errors: Probably few.
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Revision
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Not relevant
This page has been discontinued, see Central government revenue and expenditure, Quarterly.