Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators
Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) refers to the final products at market prices
produced by all resident units in a country during a certain period of time.
Gross domestic product is expressed in three different perspectives, namely
value, income, and products respectively. GDP in its value perspective refers
to the balance of total value of all goods and services produced by all
resident units during a certain period of time, minus the total value of input
of goods and services of the nature of non-fixed assets; in other words, it is
the sum of the value-added of all resident units. GDP from the perspective of
income includes the primary income created by all resident units and
distributed to resident and non-resident units. GDP from the perspective of
products refers to the value of all goods and services for final demand by all
resident units plus the net exports of goods and services during a given period
of time. In the practice of national accounting, gross domestic product is
calculated from three approaches, namely production approach, income approach
and expenditure approach, which reflect gross domestic product and its
composition from different angles.
For a region, it is called as Gross
Regional Product(GRP) or regional GDP.
Three
Strata of Industry Classification
of economic activities into three strata of industry is a common practice in
the world, although the grouping varies to some extent from country to country.
In
Primary
industry refers to agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery
industries.
Secondary
industry refers to mining and quarrying, manufacturing, production and supply
of electricity, water and gas, and construction.
Tertiary
industry refers to all other economic activities not included in the primary or
secondary industries.
Compensation
of Employees refers to the total
payment of various forms to employees for the productive activities they are
engaged in. It includes wages, bonuses and allowances, which the employees earn
in cash or in kind. It also includes the free medical services provided to the
employees and the medicine expenses, transport subsidies and social insurance,
and housing fund paid by the employers.
Net
Taxes on Production refers to
taxes on production less subsidies on production. The taxes on production
refers to the various taxes, extra charges and fees levied on the production
units on their production, sale and business activities as well as on the use
of some factors of production, such as fixed assets, land and labour in the production activities they are
engaged in. In contrast to taxes on production, subsidies on production refer
to the unilateral government transfer to the production units and are therefore
regarded as negative taxes on production. They include subsidies on the loss
due to implementation of government policies, price subsidies, etc.
Depreciation
of Fixed Assets refers to the depreciation of fixed assets in a given
period, drawn in accordance with the stipulated depreciation rate for the
purpose of compensating the wear-and-tear loss of the fixed assets or the
depreciation of fixed assets imputed in accordance with the stipulated unified
depreciation rate in the national economic accounting system. It reflects the
value of transfer of the fixed assets in the production of the current
period. The depreciation of fixed
assets in various enterprises and institutions managed as enterprises refers to
the depreciation expenses actually drawn. In government agencies and
institutions not managed as enterprises which do not draw the depreciation
expenses, as well as for the houses of residents, the depreciation of fixed
assets is the imputed depreciation, which is calculated in accordance with the
stipulated unified depreciation rate. In principle, the depreciation of fixed
assets should be calculated on the basis of the re-purchased value of the fixed
assets. However, currently the conditions in
Operating
Surplus refers to the balance of the value added
created by the resident units after deducting the labourers remuneration, net
taxes on production and the depreciation of fixed assets. It is equivalent to
the business profit of the enterprises plus subsidies to production, but the
wages and welfare expenses paid from the profits should be deducted.
GDP
by Expenditure Approach refers to the method of measuring the final results of production
activities of a country (region) during a given period from the perspective of
final uses. It includes final consumption expenditure, gross capital formation
and net export of goods and services. The formula for computation is.:
GDP by
expenditure approach = final consumption expenditure + gross capital formation
+ net export of goods and services
Final Consumption Expenditure
refers to the total
expenditure of resident units for purchases of goods and services from both the
domestic economic territory and abroad to meet the needs of material, cultural
and spiritual life. It does not include the expenditure of non-resident units
on consumption in the economic territory of the country. The final consumption
expenditure is broken down into household consumption expenditure and
government consumption expenditure.
Households Consumption Expenditure refers
to the total expenditure of
resident households on the final consumption of goods and services. In addition
to the consumption of goods and services bought by the households directly with
money, the households consumption expenditure also includes expenditure on
goods and services obtained by the households in other ways, i.e. the so-called
imputed consumption expenditure, which includes the following: (a) the goods
and services provided to households by employer in the form of payment in kind
and transfer in kind; (b) goods and services produced and consumed by the
households themselves, in which the services refer to the owner-occupied housing
and services offered by
paid family employees; (c) financial intermediate
services provided by financial institutions.
Government Consumption Expenditure
refers to the
consumption expenditure spent for the provision of public services provided by
the government to the whole country and the net expenditure on the goods and
services provided by the government to households free of charge or at reduced
prices. The former equals to the output value of the government services minus
the value of operating income obtained by the government departments. The
latter equals to the market value of the goods and services provided by the
government free of charge or at reduced prices to the households minus the
value received by the government from the households.
Gross
Capital Formation refers to
the fixed assets acquired less disposals and the net value of inventory, thus
including gross fixed capital formation and changes in inventories.
Gross Fixed Capital Formation refers to the value of
acquisitions less those disposals of fixed assets during a given period. Fixed
assets are the assets produced through production activities with unit value
above a specified amount and which could be used for over one year. Natural
assets are not included. Gross fixed capital formation can be categorized into
total tangible fixed capital formation and total intangible fixed capital
formation. Total tangible fixed capital formation includes the value of the
construction projects and installation projects completed and the equipment,
apparatus and instruments purchased (less those disposed) as well as the value
of land improved, the value of draught animals, breeding stock and animals for
milk, for wool and for recreational purposes and the newly increased forest with
economic value. Total intangible fixed capital formation includes the
prospecting of minerals and the acquisition of computer software minus the
disposal of them.
Changes
in Inventories refers to the market value of the change in the physical
volume of inventory of resident units during a given period, i.e. the
difference between the values at the beginning and at the end of the period
minus the gains due to the change in prices. The changes in inventories can
have a positive or a negative value. A positive value indicates an increase in
inventory while a negative value indicates a decrease in inventory. The
inventory includes raw materials, fuels and reserve materials purchased by the
production units as well as the inventory of finished products, semi-finished
products and work-in-progress.
Net Export of Goods and Services refers to the exports of goods and services subtracting
the imports of goods and services.
Exports include the value of various goods and services sold or
gratuitously transferred by resident units to non-resident units. Imports
include the value of various goods and services purchased or gratuitously
acquired resident units from non-resident units. Because the provision of
services and the use of them happen simultaneously, the acquisition of services
by resident units from abroad is usually treated as import while the
acquisition of services by non-resident units in this country is usually
treated as export. The exports and imports of goods are calculated at FOB.