| Base
year |
The
time period from which relative levels are measured and which
is usually allocated the value of 100 in an index. |
| Basic
Prices |
Prices
excluding taxes and subsidies on products. |
| Capital
Account |
The capital account consists of capital transfers and acquisitions/disposal of non-produced, non-financial assets (such as fixed assets or inventories). It shows the redistribution of capital assets between sectors of the economy and the rest of the world. |
| Chain-linking |
A method of constructing an index series from two or more index series of different base periods or different weights....more... |
| Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) |
Term used in most countries for their equivalent of the Retail Prices Index or the Consumer Prices Index. |
| Consumer Prices Index (CPI) |
The Consumer Prices Index is the main United Kingdom (UK) domestic measure of inflation for macroeconomic purposes. It measures the average change from month to month in the prices of consumer goods and services purchased in the UK, similar to the Retail Prices Index (RPI), but there are differences in coverage and methodology. Since December 2003, the inflation target for the UK is defined in terms of the CPI measure of inflation. |
| Current
Account |
National Accounts definition: current accounts deal with production, distribution of income and use of income.
Balance of Payments definition: account of transactions in respect of trade in goods and services, income and current transfers.
|
| Current/Constant
prices |
Constant prices refer to volume measures whose values are derived prices by applying to current quantities, prices pertaining to a specific base period. They allow figures to be represented so that the effects of inflation are removed (see deflator). The values for each time period are expressed in terms of the prices in some base period (e.g. National Accounts currently show constant price data at 1995 prices.)
Current prices are the actual or estimated recorded monetary value over a defined period for a group of industries or products. They show the value for each item expressed in terms of the prices of that period. |
| Deflator |
A price index used to produce a set of volume measures from a set of current values.
Constant price data are normally calculated by dividing current price data by the deflator. If constant price data are worked out other than by this deflation procedure, we may calculate an implicit deflator as current price divided by constant price data (see current/constant
prices). |
| European
System of Accounts (ESA) |
European
System of National and Regional Accounts. An integrated system
of economic accounts. The UK National Accounts have been based
on the European System of National Accounts 1995 (ESA 95) since
September 1998. Prior to this they were based on ESA79 which is still in use for compiling the Gross
National Product. |
| Final
Consumption Expenditure |
Spending
on goods and services that are used for the direct satisfaction
of individual or collective needs, as distinct from purchases
for use in a productive process (see Intermediate consumption). |
| Financial
Account |
National Accounts definition: the financial account shows how net lending or borrowing are achieved by financial transactions.
Balance of Payments definition: the financial account records transactions in external assets and liabilities of the UK. The financial account consists of direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment and reserve assets.
|
| Financial
Corporations |
Corporations
who are primarily engaged in financial activities. Examples
include banks, building societies, insurance corporations and
pension funds. See also Sectors. |
| General
Government |
This
sector comprises central government and local government
(local authorities). |
| Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) |
Gross
Domestic Product is a measure of the total economic activity
occurring in the UK. It can be measured in three ways:
- Production
Measures the Gross Domestic Product as the sum of
all the Value Added by all activities which produce
goods and services. (see Gross Value Added).
- Income
(GDP(I))
Measures the Gross Domestic Product as the total
of incomes earned from the production of goods and services.
- Expenditure
(GDP(E))
Measures the Gross Domestic Product as the total
of all expenditures made either in consuming finished goods
and services or adding to wealth, less the cost of imports.
|
| Gross
Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) |
Investment
in assets which are used repeatedly or continuously over a number
of years to produce goods. For example, machinery used to create
a product. |
| Gross
Value Added (GVA) |
Gross value
added is the difference between output and intermediate consumption
for any given sector/industry. That is the difference between
the value of goods and services produced and the cost of raw
materials and other inputs which are used up in production. |
| Harmonised
Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) |
A comparable measure of inflation for Member States of the European Union. In the UK, the HICP is known as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). |
| Household
and NPISH Sector |
This
sector includes all residents of the UK as receivers
of income and consumers of products. As well as conventional
families, residential homes etc, this sector includes one person
businesses where the household and business accounts cannot
be separated. |
| Household
Final Consumption Expenditure (HHFCE) |
Spending
by the Household Sector on products or services to satisfy their
immediate needs or wants. See Final Consumption Expenditure. |
| Index |
A set of numbers which measure the same characteristics and are all expressed relative to the same reference period or location. (The reference period or location is called the base and often set at 100.) An index provides a representative series of numbers used to indicate trends in prices, production and other variables. |
| Intermediate
Consumption |
The
cost of raw materials and other inputs which are used up in
the production process. See Final Consumption Expediture. |
| Inventories |
Formerly
called stocks, these consist of materials and supplies which
are stored for use in production, work-in progress, finished
goods and goods for re-sale. |
| Market
Prices |
Market
or purchasers prices are the prices actually paid by the purchaser
for goods and services, including transport costs, trade margins
and taxes.
| GDP
at market prices = |
GDP
at basic prices
+ transport prices paid separately
+ non deductible taxes on expenditure
- subsidies received
|
|
| Non-Financial
Corporations |
Corporations
which produce goods and non-financial services. In the UK these
are mainly public limited companies, private companies and partnerships.
They are mostly privately-owned, but there are some public
corporations, which are shown separately. See also Sectors. |
| Non-Profit
Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) |
This
category includes bodies such as Charities, Universities, Churches,
Trade Unions or Members Clubs. This category is normally included
in the Household and NPISH sector within National Accounts.
See also Sectors. |
| Private
Non-Financial Corporations (PNFCs) |
See
Non-Financial Corporations. |
| Public
Corporation (PC) |
Public
organisations which have a substantial degree of financial independence
from the public authority which created them. A public authority
(i.e. central or local government) normally appoints whole or
a majority of the board of management. See also Sectors. |
| Real
Household Disposable Income |
The
amount of money in real terms the household sector has
available for spending after taxes and other deductions. |
| Retail
Prices Index (RPI) |
The Retail Price Index is an important domestic indicator of inflation in the United Kingdom (UK). It measures the average change from month to month in the prices of goods and services purchased in the UK.
In addition there are 2 commonly used RPI aggregates:
- (i) RPIX - All items excluding mortgage interest payments
- (ii) RPIY - All items excluding mortgage interest payments and indirect taxes
|
| Seasonal
Adjustment |
A
process of estimating seasonal effects and removing them from
the original data. |
| Sectors |
The
economy is divided into a number of categories in the National
Accounts. These Sectors are Households and Non Profit
Institutions Serving Households (NPISH), Non-Financial Corporations,
Financial Corporations, and General Government. The
Rest of the World is treated as a sector in respect of
its dealings with the United Kingdom. |
| Standard
Industrial Classification 2003 (SIC 2003) |
The Standard Industrial Classification (Revised 2003) is a way of categorising economic activities into a common structure. At the highest level there are seventeen classifications (A-Q) where activities such as Manufacturing (D) and Construction (F) are classified. These sections are further broken down into divisions, classes and subclasses which are represented in a numbered system. Further details of SIC 2003. |
| Trade
Balance |
The
balance between exports and imports of total goods and services. |
| Trade
in Goods |
Covers
general merchandise, goods for processing, repairs on goods,
goods procured in ports by carriers and commodity gold. General
merchandise is defined as covering, with a few specific exceptions,
all movable goods for which actual or imputed changes of ownership
occur between residents and non-residents. |
| Trade
in Services |
Provision
of services between UK residents and non-residents, and transactions
in goods which are not freighted out of the country in which
they take place, e.g. purchases by tourists etc. |
| United
Kingdom (UK) |
The United Kingdom (UK) is the nation state consisting of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. |
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