Central government revenue and expenditure

Total revenue: Total gross revenue before transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global.

Total expenditure: Total gross expenditure before transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global.

Surplus before net transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global: Total revenue minus total expenditure.

Surplus before financial transactions: Surplus after net transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global.

Gross financing including debt instalments: Deficit before financial transactions plus lending minus repayments and debt instalments.

Financing: Use of capital to cover deficits before net transfers to the Government Pension Fund - Global is financed, distributed by main groups of financial instruments.

Financial instrument: Financial asset or liability with similar characteristics. Deposits, loans and securities are examples of financial objects.

Not relevant

Name: Central government's fiscal account
Topic: Public sector

Division for Public Finance

National level only.

Monthly figures for revenue and expeniture are only published in StatBank. They are updated on the last workday of the following month and this update is not included in the overview of planned releases and events.

Quarterly figures are usually published within one and a half months after the end of the quarter. Annual figures are published when figures for the 4th quarter are published.

Budget figures are updated in the StatBank when figures for the 3rd and 4th quarter are published.

Monthly figures are reported to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The purpose is to provide the public access long time series to the central government's fiscal account, including the National Insurance Scheme. In addition, according to agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Norway is obliged to publish such accounting statistics.

Annual and quarterly figures are available from 1985 while monthly figures are available from 2003. Figures of some principle revenue items are available from 1980.

The general public, media and IMF are important users of the statistics. The figures in the central government’s fiscal accounts is also a central source of the statistics regarding the national accounts and public finances.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

The statistics are not based on international standards. The figures for the central government's fiscal accounts are in principle final at the time of publishing. Figures from the statistics are included in processed form in the statistics General government revenue and expenditure and the National Accounts.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

The statistics are part of the national program for official statistics 2021-2023, main area Public finances.

Not relevant

The population comprises all administrative bodies that report to the central government's fiscal account. Non-corporate state enterprises and state lending institutions are partially included (most of them on a net basis), but not public corporations.

The statistics are based on data from The Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management (DFØ), which is responsible for preparing the national accounts. The central government's fiscal account is an administrative register that contains cash-based transactions for gross budgeting state administrative bodies, the state's business operations and the state lending institutions.

The figures that make up the state accounts are obtained electronically from DFØ.

The statistics are not subject to editing. Some simple calculations are made based on the classifications of the data from DFØ.

Not relevant

Not relevant

Major breaks in the time series do not occur. Certain minor breaches may occur since the state accounts' chart of accounts is continuously adjusted by decision in the Parlament, but presumably such adjustments have not had a significant impact on comparability over time.

The data is considered to be of high quality as there are extensive regulations and controls linked to the preparation of these accounts. Furthermore, it is not hard for Statistics Norway to carry out checks of the finished figures in the statistics against the source data. The uncertainty of the figures in the statistics is therefore considered low.

Published figures are considered final - and are seldom revised.