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Quarterly External Debt Statistics GDDS was updated on April 30, 2024
Quarterly External Debt Statistics SDDS was updated on April 30, 2024
Quarterly Public Sector Debt was updated on April 26, 2024
World Development Indicators was updated on March 28, 2024
Metadata Glossary
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Filtered Results: 10
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Code
NE.GDI.TOTL.ZS
Indicator Name
Gross capital formation (% of GDP)
Long definition
Gross capital formation (formerly gross domestic investment) consists of outlays on additions to the fixed assets of the economy plus net changes in the level of inventories. Fixed assets include land improvements (fences, ditches, drains, and so on); plant, machinery, and equipment purchases; and the construction of roads, railways, and the like, including schools, offices, hospitals, private residential dwellings, and commercial and industrial buildings. Inventories are stocks of goods held by firms to meet temporary or unexpected fluctuations in production or sales, and "work in progress." According to the 1993 SNA, net acquisitions of valuables are also considered capital formation.
Source
World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files.
Topic
Economic Policy & Debt: National accounts: Shares of GDP & other
Periodicity
Annual
Aggregation method
Weighted average
Limitations and exceptions
Because policymakers have tended to focus on fostering the growth of output, and because data on production are easier to collect than data on spending, many countries generate their primary estimate of GDP using the production approach. Moreover, many countries do not estimate all the components of national expenditures but instead derive some of the main aggregates indirectly using GDP (based on the production approach) as the control total. Data on capital formation may be estimated from direct surveys of enterprises and administrative records or based on the commodity flow method using data from production, trade, and construction activities. The quality of data on government fixed capital formation depends on the quality of government accounting systems (which tend to be weak in developing countries). Measures of fixed capital formation by households and corporations - particularly capital outlays by small, unincorporated enterprises - are usually unreliable. Estimates of changes in inventories are rarely complete but usually include the most important activities or commodities. In some countries these estimates are derived as a composite residual along with household final consumption expenditure. According to national accounts conventions, adjustments should be made for appreciation of the value of inventory holdings due to price changes, but this is not always done. In highly inflationary economies this element can be substantial.
License Type
CC BY-4.0
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