Relevance
The regional Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) measures and compares prevailing economic activity
across regions. It is the most important indicator for the selection of
regions eligible for support under the investment for growth and jobs goal, of
the EU's regional policy.
Data are compiled in accordance with
the European System of Accounts - ESA 2010, Regulation (EU) No. 549/2013 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European
system of national and regional accounts. National accounts provide a set
of reliable, consistent, and comparable macroeconomic indicators intended to
meet the needs of government and private-sector analysts, policy makers and
decision takers.
Methodological description
The Regional and
Geospatial Statistics unit publishes annual regional accounts, at NUTS 3 level,
based on the production approach. The Gross Value Added (GVA) of the
general government sector is computed directly based on the sum of costs
while a top-down approach is used for the sectors that produce market output.
The national estimates of output, intermediate consumption and GVA of the
latter sectors at NUTS 1 and 2 levels, as provided by the National Accounts
Unit, are allocated to a region (NUTS 3 level) by using the indicator of
full-time equivalent labour demand (employment in jobs) as per the location of
the producer unit in accordance with the ‘residence principle’. The industry
classification is based on NACE Rev. 2.
The reference area for national
accounts is the total economy of a country which can be broken down into
regions. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) classification
provides a single, uniform breakdown of the economic territory of the Member
States of the EU and which is the territorial classification used for the
compilation of regional accounts. The economic territory of a country can be
divided into regional territories and the extra-regio territory. For the
purpose of regional accounts, MALTA is divided as follows:
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NUTS 0
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NUTS 1
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NUTS 2
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NUTS 3
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MALTA
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MT
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MT0
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MT00
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Malta
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MT001
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Gozo and Comino
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MT002
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Extra-regio
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MTZ
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MTZZ
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MTZZZ
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The main source of employment data
used to determine the number of full-time equivalent jobs is Jobsplus. It
provides a detailed overview of the number of jobs in both private and public
sectors at enterprise level by region. Furthermore, to derive employment by
place of work, that is, where the producer unit is resident, an annual exercise
is carried out whereby headquarter companies with a presence in the region of
Gozo and Comino are contacted directly to provide the exact place of work of
their full-time and part-time employees, whether being employed in the Malta
region or in the Gozo and Comino region. In addition, data derived from the
Departmental Accounting System, Financial Data Reporting System and the
Treasury’s Financial Statements are used to determine the GVA of the general
government sector and of the extra-regio territory.
Regional GDP is valued at market
prices by adding taxes less subsidies on products, to regional GVA at basic
prices. In effect, taxes and subsidies on products are allocated between
regions proportionately based on the relative size of each region’s GVA in
relation to national.
Accuracy and reliability of data
The quality of the regional
accounting calculations is continuously checked during the calculation process
so that possible shortcomings or errors can be detected and eliminated. Major
elements of this quality assurance procedure include checks for completeness
and plausibility, comparison of the source statistics used and reconciliation
with national accounting results.
Timeliness and punctuality of data
Regional accounts are available from
2000 onwards at current prices. A news release on regional GDP is
published annually as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar.
Data for a particular reference year t are disseminated in December of year
t+1. Regional GDP data at NUTS 3 level is transmitted to Eurostat at t+12
months, even though regulated at t+24.
Accessibility and clarity of data
A regular news release is published
with annual regional GDP data from the output approach which is freely
available online on the NSO website.
Coherence and comparability /
consistency of data
Geographical comparability with other
regions within the European Union is ensured by the application of common
concepts and definitions as prescribed in the European System of Accounts,
ESA2010. Furthermore, comparability between regions is ensured by the NUTS
classification.
Regional accounts data using a
specific methodological framework are comparable over time. Agreed
methodological changes are implemented in a coordinated way and include the
estimation of back series. Regional annual data without breaks according to
NACE Rev. 2 industry classification and ESA 2010 are provided for MALTA at NUTS
3 level from 2000.