310 likes | 468 Views
OECD National Accounts Experts’ Meeting Session on General government accounts 8 October 2003. The Italian General government sector: size, boundaries, methods of classification and recent issues. ISTAT Daniela Collesi Deborah Guerrucci Federico Nusperli. collesi@istat.it.
E N D
OECD National Accounts Experts’ MeetingSession on General government accounts8 October 2003
The Italian General government sector: size, boundaries, methods of classification and recent issues ISTAT Daniela Collesi Deborah Guerrucci Federico Nusperli collesi@istat.it
THE SIZE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN ITALY • GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS SUBSECTORS AS REFERENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES • THE S.13 ARCHIVE AND STANDARD ISSUES • THE ORGANISATION OF GG • INTRODUCTION OF ESA95 AND THE REDEFINITION OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 • THE MAIN SOURCES AND THE DATABASE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 • RECENT MEASURES CONCERNING GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR: CLASSIFICATION ISSUES
NA offer a common basis of reference for international comparisons, a set of technical means of classification standards, identification on the statistical units and transactions GG not widely accepted in a juridical contest also if it is used as a reference GG sector is comparable only in the economic meaning
THE SIZE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN ITALY Figure 1 - General government Value added (ratio to GDP) • General government accounts in Italy for more than 12.5 % of GDP (as GG value added) from 1995
THE SIZE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN ITALY • Net lending/Net borrowing Figure 2 – General government Net borrowing (ratio to GDP)
THE SIZE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN ITALY • The two components, and their further analysis: 1. total expenditures Figure 3 – Public expenditure by its main components (ratio to GDP)
THE SIZE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN ITALY • The two components, and their further analysis: • 2. total revenues Figure 4 – Public revenue by its main components (ratio to GDP)
THE SIZE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN ITALY • ESA95 Questionnaire • Table 2 Main aggregates of GG • Table 9 Detailed Tax and Social Contribution Receipts by Type of Tax or Social Contribution and Receiving Subsector • Table 11 Expenditure of General government by functions
GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS SUBSECTORS AS REFERENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES The Italian General government sector, according to NA, is a broadly accepted concept. Public finance documents assume GG as the reference sector to measure public finance objectives The list S.13 is shared between Istat and the Ministry of Economy Also if ESA95 has been introduced in Italy, it still remain hard to apply because of some differences with the public law
GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS SUBSECTORS AS REFERENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES The direction followed by Government to pursue its functions: • directly engaging them • delegating to other institutional sectors simply maintaining the regulation activity
GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS SUBSECTORS AS REFERENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES • The transition in the provision of public services between the central level of government and the local one Figure 5 – GG Final consumption expenditure by subsector (millions euros)
GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS SUBSECTORS AS REFERENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES • Total expenditure between the three subsectors. The relative size of Central government is decreasing in favour of Local governments and Social security funds Figure 6 – GG Total expenditure by subsector (millions euros)
GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS SUBSECTORS AS REFERENCE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES • The increasing share of revenues for local government Figure 7 – GG Total revenues by subsector (millions euros)
THE S.13 ARCHIVE AND STANDARD ISSUES GG sector according to ESA95 used for the Yearbook of GG sectors S.13 list represents an important tool for uses such as: • the customers classification into institutional sectors for the banking system (functional for the classification of financial accounts) • the classification of transfers performed by government units by beneficiary sector that should be used when analysing flows to build the economic accounts
THE S.13 ARCHIVE AND STANDARD ISSUES One of the major effort in compiling the accounts is standardisation of sources A special effort towards standardisation regards the compilation of data for the State According to the most recent law, the economic and functional classifications should be in virtually complete conformity with the NA criteria for the GG accounts: • Functional classification from 1999 • Economic classification from 2000 The new functional classification is integrated with the COFOG with a fourth level for more detailed analysis Also for the Regions the classifications used should be in conformity with the NA criteria
THE ORGANISATION OF GG General government has a three level subsector structure defined by using ESA 95: S.1311 Central government S.1313 Local government S.1314 Social security funds
THE ORGANISATION OF GG Table 1 - GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR (S.13)
THE ORGANISATION OF GG Table 2 - General government by number of institutional units and employees
INTRODUCTION OF ESA95 AND THE REDEFINITION OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 Check of the ESA79 list to move to ESA95 Exclusion of some bodies: • the 50% criterion • the control by GG sector • the financing by GG sector • for social security funds: control on management of the institution and compulsory participation for certain group of population
INTRODUCTION OF ESA95 AND THE REDEFINITION OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 The institutions included in the sector S.13 are characterised by: • the nature of “institutional unit” • the institutional classification: • according to a juridical approach, an institution is public if the Italian legislation defines the unit “public” because it has a public purpose • according to an economic approach, an institution is included in the GG sector if it satisfies the ESA95 rules • Two groups: • the public institution sector; • the GG sector (S.13) Some units which are public for the public law aren’t included in S.13 Some units which are private for the public law are included in S.13
THE MAIN SOURCES AND THE DATABASE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 Table 3 - General government: sources used for the compilation of the accounts Sources used may be statistical surveys or administrative sources
THE MAIN SOURCES AND THE DATABASE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 The micro-database provides basic information on the various institutions, some quantitative and some relating to other features of the units: • value of NA economic transactions according to COFOG classification • non-monetary variables such as geographical area, number of local units and legal form • information on employment, such as the number of employees by economic activity according to ATECO classification
THE MAIN SOURCES AND THE DATABASE OF GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR S.13 Figure 8 - Classification of the instituional units: decisional tree
MEASURES CONCERNING THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR: CLASSIFICATION ISSUES The different kinds of measures : • creation of new units with specific tasks, classified inside General government sector (S.13) • restructuring of existing General government units • creation of new public units to be classified outside sector S.13 • restructuring of existing General government units • transfer of competencies from General government institutions to private units
MEASURES CONCERNING THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR: CLASSIFICATION ISSUES The main elements that must be taken into account : • the degree of public control over the new or restructured institutions • the characteristics of their activity and of the transactions in which they are involved • the possible assumption by General government of some risks borne by the new or restructured institutions
The creation of Patrimonio Spa and Infrastrutture SpA On June 2002 a State law established the creation of two joint-stock companies. Both were 100% public owned: Patrimonio SpA directly by the State, Infrastrutture SpA by the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti The objective of Patrimonio SpA would have been the increase of value, the management and, in some cases, the sale of the assets included in the State balance sheet
The creation of Patrimonio Spa and Infrastrutture SpA The first task of Infrastrutture Spa will be the financing of TAV SpA, Italian High-Speed Railway lines The receipts of the issuance will be transferred to TAV that will repay its debt with the income deriving from the tolls, possibly supplemented by a State additional contribution This kind of operations does not provide for any, even theoretical, State intervention
The creation of Patrimonio Spa and Infrastrutture SpA According to the available information ISTAT has decided to classify Infrastrutture SpA in the S.12 sector, as a Financial Intermediary, Patrimonio SpA in the S.13 sector, as a Central Government Institution The rationale of this decision is the following: • The two companies are public producers as they are fully controlled by General government units • The main activity of Infrastrutture SpA is financial intermediation, so the sector is Financial Corporation sector irrespective of its costs and revenues (ESA95 Manual on government deficit and debt, §I.1.3) • Patrimonio Spa has to be classified according the result of ESA95 50% rule. At present, considering that production costs include the Consumption of fixed capital that is very relevant, because of the relevant value of the assets that have been transferred to the company, the classification into General government sector is the most suitable
The transformation of ANAS into a joint-stock company The Italian Financial Act for 2003 established that ANAS had to be transformed into a joint-stock company The main changes in ANAS activity will be: • a different risk exposure as the State guarantee on ANAS liabilities will be removed • the tranfer of the roads’ ownership from the State to ANAS • the necessity to operate in a competition market • the need to increase the return of the activity both improving the efficiency of the core business and diversifying the sources of income
The transformation of ANAS into a joint-stock company It has been announced that: • tolls will be introduced in some of the roads managed by ANAS, that are currently free of charge • any income deriving from the use of the roads will be fixed according to market criteria • services will be furnished to companies operating in the transportation and infrastructure sector Compared to the expected revenues, the production costs borne by ANAS currently calculated in NA are significant mostly due to Consumption of fixed capital