B.8.  Government goods and services n.i.e.

Introduction 

14.367.        While services supplied by and to Governments should be classified to the relevant service category (business services, health, etc.), if possible, services related to government functions that cannot be classified to another specific service category should be classified as government services. Transactions covered by government goods and services n.i.e. include trade of goods and services between the government unit and the territory in which it is physically located, i.e., as government and international organization enclaves are not residents of the territory in which they are physically located, their transactions with residents of the territory of location are international transactions. Other official entities are also considered government transactors, such as aid missions, government tourism information and trade promotion offices, and international organizations. Other examples of such transactions include charges for visas, payments for police-type services, technical assistance under certain circumstances and government supply of a licence or permit  classified as the provision of a service. 

14.368.        MSITS 2010 recommends that government goods and services n.i.e. be further classified according to the following breakdown based on the transactor: embassies and consulates, military units and agencies and other government goods and services n.i.e.. Administrative costs incurred in the donor economy as a result of providing technical assistance or aid should be included under the specific services provided. Technical assistance provided by a Government or international organization is classified under government goods and services only when not specified to a service and if the technical assistance personnel are employed by the donor Government or an international organization. 

14.369.        If the issue of government licences involves little or no work on the part of the Government, with the licences being granted automatically upon payment, it is likely that they are simply a device through which to raise taxes and should therefore not be considered a service.  For example, by convention, amounts payable by households for licences to own or use vehicles, boats or aircraft, along with licences for recreational hunting, shooting or fishing, are treated as taxes. On the other hand, cases in which the licensing is used to check the competence or qualifications of the person concerned, to check the efficient and safe functioning of equipment or to carry out some other form of control, the payments made should be treated as purchases of services from the Government, unless the payments are clearly out of all proportion to the cost of providing the services.^[1]

14.370.        All expenditures on goods and services by diplomats, consular staff and military personnel and dependent members of the same household in the economies in which they are located are also included in “government goods and services n.i.e.” However, the expenditures of locally engaged staff of embassies, military bases and so forth, and international organization staff are not included in “government goods and services n.i.e.” Moreover, all staff of international institutions staying in the host economies for 12 months or more should be regarded as residents of those host economies and their expenditures are therefore not included.^[2] 

Compiling government goods and services n.i.e.  

14.371.        As discussed in chapter 11, the majority of government services transactions are most commonly compiled using administrative records. Data on government expenditures abroad should also be available from an ITRS.^[3] Moreover, estimates of expenditures of diplomats and other government personnel posted abroad could be based on the wages paid to those persons, details of which should be available from administrative records, and an assumption about the percentage of wages spent on such expenditures.^[4] It may be more difficult to capture expenditures by foreign Governments and international institutions located in the compiling economy using an ITRS, in which case an enterprise survey of non-resident bank accounts or a survey of foreign embassies and international institutions could be used. When comprehensive data collection is difficult, existing replies to past surveys could be used as representative values. 

14.372.        For provision and receipt of aid, compilers of the donor country could obtain information on the cost and type of provided services from official sources. In the recipient country, compilers could obtain information from the embassy of the donor country or the relevant domestic ministry or agency. An ITRS can also provide information on several related transactions (e.g., current transfers to Government received through the banking system) or from customs (data on imports of materials and equipment). An alternative source is OECD official development assistance records.^[5]

14.373.        If data on government expenditures abroad are not timely, or source data provide only broad aggregates or partial data, it may be necessary to extrapolate certain series or create data models based on past survey data or historical trends. In such cases, government expenditure policies, budget planning and decisions and observed statistical relationships among historical indicators should be considered.

Back to B. Compilation of individual service categories