Skopje, 29 December 2020 

Financial accounts statistics is of immense importance and also one of the most complex statistics. The data are prepared according to the international and European statistical standards and are key analytical tool and essential source of information to perceive the financial behavior of the sectors in the national economy and the main channels for acquisition and investment of financial assets in the national economy.

The National Bank has publicly released the first statistical data on the annual financial accounts of the Macedonian economy. The data are prepared in accordance with the international and European statistical standards and refer to the balance sheet (stocks) of financial assets and liabilities by financial instruments and sub-instruments of each institutional sector and sub-sector of the national economy separately, as well as the rest of the world.   

Financial accounts statistics is of immense importance and also one of the most complex statistics. The usefulness of financial account statistics is vast, as it provides detailed information on the stocks and flows of financial assets and liabilities by sector, their structure by individual financial instruments, as well as information on the mutual financial exposure of the individual sectors. Net financial worth as a difference between the total financial assets and the total financial liabilities is an important indicator for determining the debtor/creditor position of the total economy, or of an individual sector of the national economy. Thus, financial accounts are an important analytical tool for perceiving the financial behavior of each individual sector as a debtor or creditor, for the financial linkages in the national economy, the structure and role of the financial system and the main channels for acquiring and investing financial assets in the national economy. Therefore, financial accounts are an important source of information for economic policymakers.

On the web site of the National Bank, data on financial accounts are published in standardized reporting tables (two-dimensional matrices), on a non-consolidated basis for each institutional sector of the domestic economy separately, as well as for the rest of the world. The time series refers to the period 2013-2019 and contains data on the annual balance sheet (stocks) of financial assets and liabilities by financial instruments. The National Bank intensively works on activities for production of data on flows, as well as data on quarterly financial balance sheets (stocks).

At the same time, on its web site, the National Bank has also published methodological explanations for compiling annual financial accounts, which contain more detailed information on the definition and classifications of the institutional sectors and financial instruments, as well as the sources of data and the methods applied when compiling financial accounts.

The international experiences confirm that the process of preparing financial accounts statistics is extremely complex, since as secondary, i.e. “derived” statistics, they assume use of different data sources, which are very often designed for other statistical purposes and may be set on various methodological bases. All this requires an appropriate combination and creation of data sources hierarchy from primary statistics and numerous other additional data sources, thus making assessments of individual data or aggregates. Hence, due to the different methodological approach, there may be differences in the statistical data published within the primary statistics with those in the financial accounts.

The preparation of the annual sectoral financial accounts is yet another step towards fulfilment of the necessary additional indicators within the highest statistical data dissemination standard SDDS Plus, as well as for the set of EU Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure indicators, which identify the internal and external imbalances of the countries.

The public release of the statistical data on the annual financial accounts of the Macedonian economy is yet another confirmation of the continuous efforts of the National Bank to fully adhere to the highest statistical requirements and to conduct the international principles and rules in statistics. Harmonizing with the international and European statistical standards, the National Bank also shows readiness to further improve its operations and timely preparation for accession to the European System of Central Banks, which is also one of its strategic objectives. 

The data and methodological explanations are available in Financial accounts.