Sector accounts; seasonally and working day adjusted, National Accounts

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Description topics

Total domestic sectors

The domestic sectors consist of non-financial corporations, financial corporations, general government, households and non-profit institutions (NPI) serving households. The breakdown into institutional sectors is based on international rules.

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a quantity that expresses the size of an economy. The volume change of GDP during a reference period expresses the growth or shrinkage of the economy. Gross domestic product at market prices is the final result of the production activity of resident producer units. It can be defined in three ways:

- production approach: GDP is the sum of gross value added of the various institutional sectors or the various industries plus taxes and less subsidies on products (which are not allocated to sectors and industries). It is also the balancing item in the total economy production account;
- expenditure approach: GDP is the sum of final uses of goods and services by resident institutional units (final consumption and gross capital formation), plus exports and minus imports of goods and services;
- income approach: GDP is the sum of uses in the total economy generation of income account (compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports less subsidies, gross operating surplus and mixed income of the total economy).

Net domestic product at market prices (NDP) can be obtained by deducting consumption of fixed capital from GDP.

Gross operating surplus

The surplus that remains after compensation of employees and taxes less subsidies on production and imports have been subtracted from the sum of value added at basic prices. For the self-employed (who are part of the sector households) the surplus is called mixed income, it is partly a reward for their entrepreneurship compensation for their labour.

In the system of national accounts gross means that consumption of fixed capital (depreciation) has not been subtracted. When it has, net is used. Depreciation must be paid for from the gross operating surplus.

Gross national income

Total primary income received by resident institutional units: compensation of employees, operating surplus / mixed income (gross), net property income and net taxes on production and imports less subsidies. Incomes flowing from one domestic sector to another have no effect on net national income. Gross national income (at market prices) equals GDP minus primary income paid by resident institutional units to non-resident institutional units plus primary income received by resident institutional units from the rest of the world. The division of payments by member states to the European Union is largely based upon differences in gross national income.

National income is not a production concept but an income concept, which is more significant if expressed in net terms, i.e. after deduction of consumption of fixed capital.

Gross disposable income

The sum of the gross disposable incomes of the institutional sectors. Gross national disposable income equals gross national income (at market prices) minus current transfers (current taxes on income, wealth et cetera, social contributions, social benefits and other current transfers) paid to non-resident units, plus current transfers received by resident units from the rest of the world. Because disposable national income is not a production concept but an income concept, it is usually expressed in net terms, i.e. after deduction of depreciation (consumption of fixed capital).

Gross saving

The portion of national disposable income that has not been used for final consumption expenditure.

Net lending (+) or net borrowing (-)

Net lending (+) or net borrowing (-) is the balancing item on the current and the capital account. This balancing item equals the balance of transactions on the financial account; a deficit on the current and capital account is financed by new liabilities and/or the sale of financial assets. In case of a surplus, liabilities are repaid and/or financial assets acquired.
Net lending or net borrowing for the total economy is equal to the balance on the current and the capital account of all institutional sectors. The balance of the financial account for the total economy shows the amount of net lending to or borrowing from the rest-of-the-world.

General government

The general government sector primarily consists of all entities that exercise national executive, legislative and judiciary powers on a national or regional level. By this they have powers to raise taxes and other compulsory levies and to pass laws affecting the behaviour of economic units. In the Netherlands this concerns the State, municipalities, provinces, public water boards and the like. In the second place general government consists of entities that are controlled and mainly financed by the aforementioned entities, and do not produce for the market. Such entities are often established to carry out specific functions, such as road construction or the non-market production of health, education or research services. In this way, for instance, Prorail and the Open University are counted to the general government.
Government institutions that are active abroad, like embassies, belong to the general government sector as well. On the other hand foreign embassies and international institutions, like Europol and the International Court of Justice, do not belong to the Dutch government.

The Dutch Central Bank (DNB), the Dutch railways (NS), hospitals and power companies are not part of the general government sector. But also some independent governing bodies like the land registry (Kadaster). To some extent they are controlled by the government. However, their goods and services are largely financed through tariffs, and thus it is a case of market production.

The general government sector is split up into three subsectors: central government, local government and social security funds.

The principal economic functions of government are as follows:
- to provide goods and services to the community, either for collective consumption such as public administration, defence, and law enforcement, or individual consumption such as education, health, recreation and cultural services, and to finance their provision out of taxation or other incomes;
- to redistribute income and wealth by means of transfer payments such as taxes and social benefits;
- to engage in other types of non-market production.

Final consumption expenditure

Expenditure on goods or services that are used for the direct satisfaction of individual or collective needs. Expenses may be made at home or abroad, but they are always made by resident institutional units, that is households or institutions residing in the Netherlands. By definition only households, non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) and government institutions consume. Enterprises do not: expenses they make on goods and services are thought to serve production and are therefore classified as intermediate consumption of fixed capital formation. The general government is a special case. The government also has intermediate consumption, just like enterprises. But the output delivered by the government which is not directly paid for, non-market output (like safety), is classified as consumption by the general government. It is said that the government 'consumes its own production'. The system of national accounts demands that all that is produced is also consumed (or serves as an investment). By convention, government output is consumed by the government itself. This is not the only consumption by the general government. It also contains social transfers in kind. In the Netherlands this mainly concerns health care bills paid for by the government and an allowance for the rent.

Gross fixed capital formation

Expenditure on produced assets that are used in a production process for more than one year. This may concern a building, dwelling, transport equipment or a machine. This in contrast with goods and services which are used up during the production process, the so-called intermediate use (e.g. iron ore). Fixed capital does lose value over time as a result of normal wear and tear and obsolescence. This is called consumption of fixed capital (also called depreciation). The value of fixed capital formation in which the consumption of fixed capital is not deducted is called gross fixed capital formation. Deduction of the consumption of fixed capital results in net fixed capital formation.

The following types of fixed assets exist: dwellings and other buildings and structures, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, weapon systems (included in machinery and equipment), computers, software, telecommunication equipment, research and development, cultivated biological resources, mineral exploration and evaluation, and costs of ownership transfer on non-produced assets, like land, contracts, leases and licences.

Total revenue

The total revenue of general government is the sum of taxes, net social contributions, sales (defined as market output, output for own final use and payments for non-market production), other current revenues and capital transfer revenues.

Total expenditure

Total expenditure of the General Government includes the remuneration of employees, intermediate consumption, fixed capital formation, legal social insurance, social benefits, subsidies, benefits legal provision income property, other expenditure n.e.c. (taxes on production and not related to products, benefits directly by employers, other current transfers, capital transfers, balance buying and selling of non-produced non-financial assets).

Balance general government sector (EMU)

Balance between revenue and expenditure of the general government sector, presented as percentage of GDP. In the national accounts this equals net lending/net borrowing of the general government sector.
The balance of the general government sector (or EMU-balance) is an element of the Stability and Growth Pact. A positive figure indicates a surplus; a negative figure indicates a deficit.