Public Sector Balance Sheet Database: Overview and Guide for Compilers and Users

54 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2020

See all articles by Miguel Alves

Miguel Alves

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Sage De Clerck

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Juliana Gamboa-Arbelaez

Central Bank of Columbia

Date Written: July 2020

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the Public Sector Balance Sheet (PSBS) Database, a dataset developed in the context of the October 2018 Fiscal Monitor. The dataset provides a comprehensive picture of public wealth for 38 countries, and a narrower picture for further 37 countries and territories. Comprehensive PSBSs bring together all the accumulated assets and liabilities that governments control, including public corporations, natural resources, and pension liabilities. They therefore account for the entirety of what the state owns and owes, offering a broader fiscal picture beyond debt and deficits. This is particularly relevant in the current context of record and still rising debts and heightened risks to the balance sheet of the public sector. PSBSs bring about greater transparency and allow closer scrutiny of government's financial position. They also allow better balance sheet management, thereby potentially increasing return on assets, reducing risks and the costs of borrowing, and improving fiscal policymaking. The paper also elaborates on the conceptual framework and methodology used in compiling the data, and provides some practical guidelines on the compilation, validation, and dissemination of such data.

Keywords: External sector, Financial crises, Financial statements, Economic conditions, Central banking and monetary issues, Assets, balance sheet, converting financial statements, liabilities, mineral and energy resources, net worth, pensions, public corporations, public sector, public sector balance sheet, public wealth, WP, pension liability, GFS, financial statement

JEL Classification: H11, H13, H19, H29, E01, M41, C, G21, G12

Suggested Citation

Alves, Miguel and De Clerck, Sage and Gamboa-Arbelaez, Juliana, Public Sector Balance Sheet Database: Overview and Guide for Compilers and Users (July 2020). IMF Working Paper No. 20/130, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3670610

Miguel Alves (Contact Author)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) ( email )

700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20431
United States

Sage De Clerck

International Monetary Fund (IMF) ( email )

700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20431
United States

Juliana Gamboa-Arbelaez

Central Bank of Columbia ( email )

Bogota
Colombia

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