Brussels, 15/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - Eurostat, has published a Decision on the statistical recording of public interventions to support financial institutions and markets during the financial crisis. Whether this intervention involves recapitalisation, guarantees, purchases of assets, and liquidity operations conducted through exchange of assets, there are still several questions that come up with regard to the rules in force, particularly: the uncertainty over asset values, the difficulty in measuring risks which public bodies are taking on, and the rapid development of new forms of intervention. The Decision is founded on established statistical principles in the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995), which have been applied to the specific circumstances of the financial turmoil. It provides a framework for statisticians across the EU to apply in recording these (and future) interventions in the national accounts, ensuring a consistency of treatment across countries and between operations of the same economic substance.
Eurostat points out that, unavoidably, the crisis rescue operations include elements for which uncertainty about their future impact is so high, that they should not be included in the “core accounts”. Eurostat intends to publish, from the second EDP (debt and deficit) notification in October 2009, supplementary tables related to activities undertaken to support financial institutions. They will integrate the official data transmitted by Member States to Eurostat in the context of future EDP notifications. This approach will make public possible future consequences in terms of impact on government deficit and debt. The final impact on government deficit and debt figures of these operations will be recorded in the core accounts if and when the associated risks crystallise, and can be measured objectively. The decision is available at: (http://www.epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu ). (A.B./trans/rh)