Estonia - Gross External Debt

For Estonia, gross external debt - the outstanding amount of those actual, current, and not contingent, liabilities that require payments of principal and/or interest by the debtor at some points in the future and that are owed to nonresidents by residents.

Active:

• Framework: IMF BPM6
• Measurement: Millions of euros (Mil. EUR)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
• Native frequency: Quarterly
• Start date: 1996Q1

Predecessor:

• BPM5 in EUR - 1992 to 2014
• BPM5 in EEK - 1992 to 2010
• BPM5 in USD - 1992 to 2010

The source writes:

Analytical framework and concepts: External debt statistics follow the conceptual framework of the 5^th edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5) (Manual) and External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users (Guide). End-of-quarter stocks of external debt liabilities are presented broken down by: - resident sector: monetary authorities, general government, banks, other sectors; - original maturity: short and long-term; - debt securities as specified in the BPM5: inter-company loans, debt instruments, trade credits, loans, currency and deposits and other liabilities. Data on inter-company loans under direct investment relationships are separately identified without sector attribution. The data are consistent with the corresponding series in the international investment position statistics.

In comparison to the liabilities side of the International Investment Position, the quarterly external debt does not include any financial liabilities arising from participation rights, i.e. shares and investment funds units related with portfolio investment, and equity capital, reinvested earnings and real estate investment, regarding direct investment.

Only data of residents operating on the territory of Estonia are included in the geographical coverage.

The official central bank exchange rate at the end of period is used to convert debt liabilities denominated in foreign currencies into EEK as unit of account and conversely to EUR and USD (for publishing only). The stocks are valued at market prices as far as they are available. Debt position data are recorded on accrual basis.

Data sources:

Debt securities: The major part of data on stocks of debt securities are obtained from questionnaires designed especially for enterprises, investment funds, other financial intermediaries, carried out by BOP Department of the BoE, and from the Central Register of Securities. The Financial Stability Department (FSD) of the BOE provides information on portfolio investment related to Estonian credit institutions. These data sources are supplemented by data from the ITRS by using perpetual inventory method.

Trade credits: Data are obtained on quarterly bases from questionnaires of enterprises (other sectors) and from State Treasury (government sector) and are supplemented by estimations.

Loans: The main sources of data are the State Treasury (Ministry of Finance), Central Accounting Department of the BOE (Monetary Authorities), FSD of the BOE (Banks) and the enterprise surveys of the BOP Department of the BOE (Other sectors).

Currency and deposits: Banks regular reports carried out by FSD of the BOE.

Other debt liabilities: The main sources of data are the State Treasury (Ministry of Finance), Central Accounting Department of the BOE (Monetary Authorities), Financial Stability Department of the BOE (Banks) and the enterprise survey of the BOP Department of the BOE (Other sectors).

Inter-company loans: Information is derived from enterprise surveys of non-bank direct investment enterprises and banks reports, carried out by BOE.

External debt position are disseminated in millions of Estonian KROONS (EEK), millions of USA dollars (USD) and millions of EUROS.

The debt owed to nonresidents are broken down by:

• institutional sector (general government, monetary authorities, banking sectors and other sectors;
• original maturity (short-term, long-term);
• instrument (Bonds and notes, Loans and deposits, Trade credits, Other debt liabilities, and Direct investment - intercompany lending).

The data are derived from the IIP statistics and are generally compiled in accordance with the concepts and methodology set out in the Manual of External Debt Statistics: Guide for compilers and users (2003) (Guide) as well as the 5^th edition of the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual ( Manual)

Data are controlled with the information published by enterprises or banks in their press releases and annual reports. Survey data are indirectly checked up to data reported via international transaction reporting system (ITRS). Disseminated data are not seasonally adjusted. 

The data are preliminary when first released and are revised upon the release of the preliminary statistics of the next period. Adjusted annual data are published, as a rule, upon the release of the statistics of the first quarter of the following year and are considered as final.

Extraordinary adjustments are made in exceptional cases, when significant errors and omissions have occurred or methodology changes the result incomparably. Data can be adjusted retrospectively for more than a year, of which the public will be notified.

Further reading

At IMF (SDDS):

• Balance of payments - Balance of Payments (quarterly)