International investment position, 2012

National level.

Published once a year in September/October.

Reporting data to the International Monetary Fund.

Not relevant

The main purpose is to fulfil the data dissemination requirements of the IMF which imply that the data shall be available for all parties interested. A main purpose for the IMF is international comparisons. The data are also an important supplement to Norwegian balance of payments data (financial account). The IMF publish the different member countries IIP data on webpage: IMF
Norway reported IIP data to the IMF for the first time in 2002, with data back to 1998.

The main user is the IMF.

The IIP is the balance sheet of the stock of external financial assets and liabilities. Together with the balance of payments transactions, valuation changes and other changes it gives a fully consistent set of international accounts for the economy. Statistics Norway makes separate quarterly statistics on the external debt position and annual direct investment and portfolio investment. Also a statistics with the name &“Foreign assets and liabilities´´ has been published by statistics Norway. The difference between IIP and the foreign assets and liabilities statistics is that direct investment between group companies is netted in the IIP balance sheet according to the directional principle, while kept on a gross basis in the foreign asset and liabilities balance sheet. The Foreign assets and liabilities statistics shows detailed breakdown by sector, financial instrument, country and industry, but there is no breakdown by function as in IIP. This statistics has not been updated after 2003.

The main acts are the Statistics Act section 2-2, the Act on the Supervision of Credit Institutions, Insurance Companies and Securities Trading and the Act on Norges Bank and the Monetary System (paragraph 27 concerning information and reporting obligations)

Not relevant

The IIP includes, in principle, all resident institutions, enterprises and households with foreign assets or liabilities. The distinction between Norway and the rest of the world follows the principle used in the national accounts.

The most important data sources are annual accounting statistics for financial enterprises like banks and other credit institutions, financial holding corporations, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and Norges Bank (in particular investments of the Government Pension Fund &– Global). Other sources are annual data for the government sector and for non-financial enterprises which are collected through the surveys for balance of payment stock data and the survey for Direct Investment. Also data for resident securities in the Norwegian Central Securities Depository and for foreign securities held in resident custodies.

The annual accounting statistics for enterprises in the financial sector covers the total population. Data on enterprises in the non-financial sector and data on foreign securities in Norwegian custody are based on surveys with high coverage of the populations.

Norges Bank collected data for banks, other credit institutions and securities until year 2006; thereafter this collection is done by Statistics Norway. Data for insurance companies, pension funds and non-financial enterprises are collected by Statistics Norway. Data for financial enterprises are grouped together with data for non-financial enterprises in separate databases.

Data are controlled in several stages. For instance, when data are received from the reporting units, when data are merged together and when data are going to be published.

In the annual survey of non-financial enterprises most of the population is covered. Data from the survey will in time be grossed up to cover 100 per cent of the population. This work is not yet completed. Figures are in market value or equivalent valuation – this is especially important for equities. If market value is not stated by the respondent, methods for calculating market equivalent values are used.

If there are less than three units in a cell, figures will not be published.

Data on IIP from 1998 till to day are comparable, but data sources for non-financial enterprises and households are changed from year 2004 and onwards. The reason is Statistics Norway are replacing a former survey of foreign assets and liabilities and Norges Bank’s ITRS system by a new quarterly and annual survey for both balance of payments and IIP purposes.