Dataset description and subject overview

The IMF Government Finance Statistics is the standard reference source on governments of IMF member countries. Annual data is supplied on revenue income by source (tax, lending, bonds, etc), and expenditure by sector (defence, education, health, etc) for all levels of government (national, state, local). Data are in local currencies with the major components and expenditures on education, health, social security and agriculture shown also as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).

The Government Finance Statistics database was introduced by the IMF to provide current and internationally comparable data on the finances and fiscal policies of Fund member governments. Topics covered include deficit/surplus or total financing, revenues or grants, expenditures, lending minus repayments, domestic financing, foreign financing, domestic debt or total debt, and foreign debt.

Annual data are supplied for central government accounts and different levels of government in these categories:

1. central government budgetary accounts
2. central government consolidated accounts
3. central government extrabudgetary accounts
4. central government Social Security Funds
5. state or province governments
6. local governments
7. general governments

Some data is provided for the institutions of the European Union under the term ‘supranational authorities’.

The database also includes information on selected aggregates such as GDP, population and exchange rates, taken from the IMF’s International Finance Statistics database.

In April 2004, the IMF introduced a new classification system for the Government Finance Statistics that only supports data from 1990 onwards. In Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server, the GFS is presented in two seperate folders - the Government Finance Statistics Current (1990 - ) contains data using the new classification system from 1990 onwards, and the Government Finance Statistics Historical (1972 - 1989) contains data using the old classification system. The IMF produces the GFS Manual 2001 Companion Material which shows the relationships between the two classfication systems by describing the reclassification of all the GFSM 1986 classification categories to the GFSM 2001 classification categories.

User Documentation

The IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual describes the standards used for the compilation and presentation of fiscal statistics. The Manual covers the concepts, definitions, classifications, and accounting rules used to compile the database, and is intended as a reference volume for compilers of government finance statistics, fiscal analysts and other users of fiscal data. The 2001 edition of the manual replaces the 1986 version and introduces major changes in the methodology for the compilation of government finance statistics.

• IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual
  (www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/gfs/manual/index.htm)

Data for the Government Finance Statistics are obtained primarily by means of a detailed questionnaire distributed to government finance statistics correspondents, usually located in the ministries of finance or central banks of reporting countries. The IMF provide links to an online version of the questionnaire and supplementary information about the database on their Government Finance Statistics, List of Companion Material pages:

• Government Finance Statistics, List of Companion Material
  (www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/gfs/manual/comp.htm)

IMF Publications also produces an annual print version of the database, the 'Government Finance Statistics Yearbook' which contains recent time series data from the database. Institutional Table information is available from the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook 2004.

• IMF Publications (www.imf.org/external/pubind.htm)
• Institutional Table information (PDF, 683kb)
  

The IMF Government Finance Statistics hosted by ESDS International are delivered via Beyond 20/20 WDS:

• Worked example using Beyond 20/20 WDS and the IMF Government Finance Statistics
  (www.esds.ac.uk/international/support/user_guides/imf/gfswe.asp)

Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software to read documents in pdf format. You can download it free of charge from the Adobe website.

Accessing the IMF Government Finance Statistics (GFS)

To access the ESDS International macro-economic datasets you must be a user from a UK higher or further education institution. We cannot provide data to users outside of this community due to the data re-distribution license agreements we have with our data providers. If you are a member of a UK higher or further education institution access to the macro-economic datasets is provided free of charge.

Access to data requires ESDS registration and uses the federated access management authentication system. Registration is a simple online process - go to the How to Register web page at www.esds.ac.uk/aandp/access/access.asp to begin the process.

Once you have registered with ESDS and attempt to access one of the macro-economic datasets, you will automatically be prompted to agree to additional dataset specific conditions if they apply.

Countries in the IMF Government Finance Statistics (GFS)

• List of countries covered (PDF, 27kb)

Periodicity and Time Range

The Government Finance Statistics contains annual time series data. Where the data are available, annual entries generally begin in 1972 and run to the latest available year. A small number of series start in 1970.

The IMF's Government Finance Statistics at ESDS International is updated quarterly. See the latest update page for further information.