StatCan Blog: Tracking government finances, July 2013
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Released: 2013-07-17
In summer 2014, Statistics Canada will have a new way of telling the story of how governments in this country collect and spend their revenues and manage their balance sheets.
The July edition of StatCan Blog discusses how the agency is moving to a new international standard, Government Finance Statistics (GFS). This is a system that provides standardized and comprehensive financial statistics—revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities—for all levels of government, including government business enterprises.
This kind of tracking is nothing new to Statistics Canada. It has been a large part of the agency's mandate right from its inception.
The new system, developed by the International Monetary Fund, has been adopted by a number of countries around the world, and Statistics Canada is among the leaders in implementing it full scale.
By moving to the new system, Statistics Canada will be able to deliver data that are both more meaningful and robust, says Philippe Samborski, senior economist and one of the leads of the team that has been working since 2010 on GFS implementation.
"The higher the quality of the data, the better the analytical results will be," says Samborski.
In addition, the new system will allow users to make international comparisons more easily. It will also provide more in-depth information at the federal, provincial, territorial and local government levels and will allow for better policy analysis and forecasting.
Contact information
For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).
To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Penny Stuart (613-951-2005; penny.stuart@statcan.gc.ca).
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