Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts

2018

Financial and Wealth Accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis: selected financial instruments

Release date: December 21, 2018

The 2008 financial crisis demonstrated how quickly economic shocks can spread between sectors and countries, making it apparent that the existing set of macroeconomic statistics contained gaps for identifying such systemic issues. Users therefore require new products from the System of National Accounts that demonstrate the financial linkages between sectors in the economy. The Special Data Dissemination Plus (SDDS+) and G20 Data Gaps initiatives were established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address some of these data gaps, and presented specific recommendations to G20 countries. One of these recommendations asks statistical agencies to begin compiling more detailed data on the interconnectedness of the economy by incorporating a From-Whom-To-Whom (FWTW) framework. This FWTW framework includes statistics that make counterparty information explicit, showing how various sectors of the economy are connected by financial interdependencies. In other words, the data presented on this new basis allows users to answer the question ‘whom is funding whom and with what financial instruments’. In this visualisation tool, we present six instruments on a FWTW basis in a fully customizable pivot table.

An Economic Account for Non-bank Financial Intermediation as an Extension of the National Balance Sheet Accounts

Release date: December 14, 2018

The goal of this paper is to explain the methodology and data sources used to construct a comprehensive economic account covering entities that fall within the definition of non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), previously referred to as “shadow banking”. For policy-makers, researchers, and regulators, understanding the vulnerabilities that exist in the financial system does not stop at the traditional entities where oversight and risk assessment is well established. The activities of NBFIs are an important part of the financial system and, due to the many inter-linkages between NBFIs and the more formal system, it is crucial to develop the estimates needed to better monitor risk throughout the entire system. This economic account seeks, in part, to address that objective.

Seasonal adjustment of stocks and flows in the Financial and Wealth Accounts: towards an integrated approach

Release date: December 14, 2018

The principal motivation in producing estimates of seasonally adjusted household sector borrowing arose as a result of the observed seasonality present in the unadjusted credit market debt estimates. For example, Canadians tend to borrow more in the form of consumer credit in the fourth quarter, with the arrival of significant retail activity tied to the holidays, and then subsequently retrench in the first quarter. Moreover, mortgage borrowing has a tendency to slow down in the first quarter, but then pick up in the second and third quarters as winter recedes in many areas of Canada and resale activity picks up and families look to secure housing before the start of the upcoming school year. This phenomena of sub-annual cyclical patterns is not constrained to the household sector and can be seen in other areas such as government borrowing. Consequently, seasonal adjustment in this context enhances the interpretability of estimates that possess a strong cyclical component, eliminating the variation due to predictable and recurrent events, and provides data users, policy makers, and researchers with more accurate quarter-to-quarter movements that reveal the underlying trends in the data. While only household borrowing is the current sector of interest, seasonal adjustment will be eventually expanded to encompass other pertinent sectors in the Financial and Wealth Accounts.

Understanding business credit measures: a joint study by the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada

Release date: December 14, 2018

The Bank of Canada (the Bank) and Statistics Canada both produce aggregate measures of borrowing, or credit, for sectors of the Canadian economy. The Statistics Canada measures are part of the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), which cover the entire economy and directly align with the internationally recognized national accounting principles detailed in the United Nations System of National Accounts. The Bank’s data are presented based on the issuer of credit, i.e., the holder of the financial assets, and do not display liabilities. Both measures are constructed primarily from records of Canadian financial institutions and provide thorough coverage of lending by those institutions. They show a similar picture of the indebtedness of Canadian non-financial businesses, currently and in the past. However, the use of differing classification systems, methodologies and definitions result in some reconcilable differences in the aggregate measures. Therefore, the Bank and Statistics Canada conducted a joint study to understand and identify key differences between their respective measures of business credit loans, including non-mortgage business loans, non-residential mortgages and commercial paper.

Integrating the production, distribution and consumption of cannabis in the Canadian national economic accounts

Release date: December 7, 2018

Statistics Canada is responsible for compiling and disseminating Canada's key macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product, household spending, investment, exports, imports, government revenue and expenditure, and industrial output. With the approval of Bill C-45, a significant portion of cannabis production and consumption is moving from the illegal to the legal market. This now-legal activity is in scope for inclusion in Canada's estimates of gross domestic product just like other legal economic activities. The change in legal status makes it much easier for Statistics Canada to gather credible data to measure the size of the market. This paper outlines how the Canadian national economic accounts will be adjusted to incorporate both the illegal and the now-legal production and consumption of non-medical cannabis for the period 1961 forward.

The 2015 to 2017 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts

Release date: November 30, 2018

Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering the period 2015 to 2017 have been released. These revised estimates incorporate the most current source data and seasonal patterns.

Trade in services by mode of supply: definitions, collection strategies and preliminary results

Release date: October 19, 2018

International trade in services is covered by a set of rules documented in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS is a multilaterally agreed legal framework for trade in services, which provides a system of enforceable obligations and commitments for services trade that apply to all members of the World Trade Organization. The GATS defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of the four modes of supply: cross border, consumption abroad, commercial presence, and the presence of natural persons.

Canada's international trade in information and communications technologies (ICT) and ICT-enabled services

Release date: October 19, 2018

Information and communications technologies (ICT) play an important role in facilitating trade in services. The reduction in costs of ICT, technological advances and computerization of work have enabled services to increasingly be traded. Many services can now be instantaneously delivered online to businesses and consumers around the world.

Access by Canadians to regulated liquor and cannabis retail outlets

Release date: October 10, 2018

Statistics Canada has done some calculations to determine the accessibility of regulated products—liquor and cannabis—to Canadian households in bricks-and-mortar outlets. Using the agency's geographic databases, the location of each Canadian household is identified, and the distance from that location to the nearest legal retail outlet is calculated. Averages of these distances are then calculated to determine how generally accessible these products are to Canadians. It must be noted this takes no account of online or illegal retailers.

Estimating the demand for cannabis

Release date: September 21, 2018

It is a matter of some speculation what the demand for cannabis will be after the substance becomes available for non-medical use. Statistics Canada has released estimates of household consumption expenditure over the past several decades based largely self-reported use, but this demand is mostly for illegal cannabis used for non-medical purposes. To what extent will the new legal market displace the long-existing illegal market and how large will new demand be, coming from consumers who are not presently using illegal products?

Comparing Canada’s and China’s Bilateral Trade Data

Release date: August 29, 2018

Bilateral trade between Canada and China has grown significantly over the past years, and differences in the trade statistics of the two countries have widened in step with this growth. In theory, Canada’s statistics for imports and exports with China should match China’s statistics for exports and imports with Canada. This is not the case in practice, as trade values differ between the two countries’ data. Since 2016, Statistics Canada and the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China have worked together to account for differences in their bilateral trade in goods and services statistics. This paper presents the results of the comparison of Canada’s and China’s bilateral merchandise and services trade statistics.

A snapshot of licensed cannabis producers

Release date: April 26, 2018

Statistics Canada conducted a survey Canada's licensed cannabis producers in the fourth quarter of 2017 and early 2018. Businesses in this survey are cannabis producers that are licensed by Health Canada as of September 2017. The survey collected information on production, inventories, revenue, expenses, employment and capital expenditures for the years 2015 and 2016. Additional information was obtained from the Canada Revenue Agency's corporate income tax and payroll deduction records and from Health Canada's regulatory data.

Understanding household credit measures, a joint study by the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada

Release date: March 15, 2018

The Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada both produce aggregate measures of borrowing, or credit, for sectors of the Canadian economy. The Statistics Canada measures are part of the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), which cover the entire economy and directly align with the internationally recognized national accounting principles detailed in the United Nations System of National Accounts. They are available by sector as currently defined in the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts. The NBSA are created using a balance sheet approach, which involves presenting the assets and liabilities for all instruments and sectors of the economy. In other words, for each instrument all holders of financial assets must have corresponding counterparties who hold the financial liabilities, and as such, the sum of these are equal in the aggregate. The Bank of Canada’s data are presented based on the issuer of credit, i.e., the holder of the financial assets, and do not display liabilities.

Currency composition of Canada's international investment position

Release date: March 14, 2018

Despite ongoing current account deficits and the corresponding need to borrow funds from abroad, Canada’s net international investment position (IIP) has increased to unprecedented levels in recent years. This suggests that the change in the net IIP has been driven by factors other than current account deficits. Among these factors is the revaluation effect related to exchange rate fluctuations. This article describes in details the currency composition of Canada's international financial assets and liabilities as well as the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the value of these financial instruments. It also includes information on how Canada compares with other countries with respect to the currency exposure of its international assets and liabilities.

The 2010 to 2014 revisions of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators

Release date: Febuary 27, 2018

With the release of the 2015 and 2016 estimates of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI) in February of 2018, data were revised for 2010 to 2014. The 2013 Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account (PTCSA) was incorporated as the new benchmark and other new and revised macroeconomic data were also introduced.

Using municipal wastewater to measure Canadians' consumption of cannabis and opioids

Release date: Febuary 22, 2018

Over the last number of months, Statistics Canada has been updating the national statistical system to measure the production, consumption and distribution of non-medical cannabis. To date, this work has involved updating classification standards (such as the North American Product Classification), developing models that take existing information (mainly from health and social surveys) and transform it into estimates of consumption and expenditure, as well as undertaking new surveys on cannabis consumption.


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