Public finances

Statistics on public finances are compiled under the conceptual framework of the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010), supplemented by the ESA 2010 Manual on government deficit and debt. The national accounts system is built around a sequence of inter-linked flows, relating to various economic and financial transactions over a specific period, and also to balance sheets, which show figures for outstanding assets and liabilities held by the institutional sectors at the beginning and the end of the period under consideration. Government finance statistics, and in particular data concerning the excessive deficit procedure (EDP), form the basis for EU fiscal monitoring.