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What abbreviations are commonly used by Data Buffet (in series metadata, the catalog, and articles on Data Buffet News) and by our sources?

Economic terminology and symbology vary between countries and authorities, and given the scope of Data Buffet, we have selected our usage for clarity, consistency and brevity. This is not a comprehensive glossary. Usage by other groups within Moody's Analytics varies.

Types of source

• GSE = government-sponsored enterprise
• MFI = major financial institution
• NCB = national central bank (Eurostat term)
• NSI = national statistical institute (Eurostat term)

Select major supernational sources and standard-setting bodies

• BIS = Bank for International Settlements
• ECB = European Central Bank
• ILO = International Labor Organization
• IMF = International Monetary Fund
• ISO = International Standards Organization
• OECD = Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
• UNSD = United Nations Statistics Division

Select national sources and data portals

• ACEA = Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles / European Automobile Manufacturers Association
• BCRA = Banco Central de la República Argentina / Central Bank of the Argentine Republic
• BdF = Banque de France / Bank of France
• BoE = Bank of England
• BoJ = Bank of Japan
• CANSIM = data portal of Statistics Canada
• CBI = Central Bank of Ireland
• CBR = Central Bank of Russia
• IBA = ICE Benchmark Administration
• INE = Instituto Nacional de Estatística / National Insitute of Statistics
• INEGI = Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografia e Informática
• MBA = U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association, source of the NDS
• NAHB = National Association of Home Builders
• NAR = U.S. National Association of REALTORS
• NFIB = National Federation of Independent Business
• ONS = U.K. Office of National Statistics
• PBC or PBoC = People's Bank of China
• TCB = The Conference Board

Identifiers from and for other sources

• CUSIP = Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures
• RIC = Reuters Instrumental Code (Thomson Reuters)

Sources within the U.S. federal government, GSEs, or similar

• BEA = Bureau of Economic Analysis (Commerce Department)
• BLS = Bureau of Labor Statistics (Labor Department)
• BOC = Census Bureau (Commerce Department)
• CFTC = Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• EIA = Energy Information Administration (Energy Department)
• FDIC = Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• FFIEC = Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (interagency group)
• FHA = Federal Housing Administration
• FHFA = Federal Housing Finance Agency
• FHLB = Federal Home Loan Banks (system of 11 banks)
• FHLMC = Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp, a.k.a. "Freddie Mac"
• FNMA = Federal National Mortgage Association, a.k.a. "Fannie Mae"
• FRB = Federal Reserve Board, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Bank (system of 12 banks), a.k.a. "the Fed"
• GNMA = Government National Mortgage Association, a.k.a. "Ginnie Mae"
• HUD = Department of Housing and Urban Development
• IRS = Internal Revenue Service (Treasury Department)
• OCC = Office of Comptroller of the Currency (Treasury Department)
• OMB = Office of Management and Budget (White House)

Kinds of dataset

• ANA = annual national accounts
• BOP = balance of payments
• CCI = consumer confidence index
• CPI = consumer price index
• CPI-H = harmonized consumer price index (a.k.a. HCPI, HICP)
• FX = foreign exchange
• GCF = gross capital formation, part of GDP(E)
• GDP = gross domestic product
• GDP(E) = expenditure approach to GDP
• GDP(I) = income approach to GDP
• GDP(O) = output approach to GDP (a.k.a. the production approach)
• GED = gross external debt
• GFCF = gross fixed capital formation, part of GDP(E)
• GVA = gross value added, the bulk of GDP(O)
• HAI = housing affordability index
• HICP = harmonized index of consumer prices (a.k.a. CPI-H, HCPI)
• HPI = house price index, a.k.a. home price index
• IIP = international investment position
• IPI = industrial production index
• LFS = labor force survey; labor force status
• LMCI = labor market conditions index
• NA = national accounts
• NOI = new orders index
• NPL = non-performing loans
• PMI = purchasing managers index
• PPI = producer price index
• QNA = quarterly national accounts
• QSA = quarterly sector accounts
• RPI = retail price index (distinct from CPI, depending on computation)
• RSI = retail sales index
• WPI = wholesale price index
• WTI = wholesale trade index

Kinds of dataset (French)

• IPC = indice des prix à la consommation (see: CPI)
• PIB = produit intérieur brut (see: GDP)
• VAB = valeur ajoutée brute (see: GVA)

Kinds of dataset (Spanish)

• IPC = índice de precios al consumidor (see: CPI)
• PIB = producto interno bruto (see: GDP)
• VAB = valor agregado bruto (see: GVA)

Some specific U.S. datasets

• AHS = (BOC) American Housing Survey
• BED = (BLS) Business Employment Dynamics
• CCAR = Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review
• CES = (BLS) Current Employment Statistics
• CPS = (BLS) Current Population Survey
• H.8 = (FRB) Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the United States
• H.15 = (FRB) Selected Interest Rates
• HMDA = (FFIEC) Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
• JOLTS = (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
• NDS = (MBA) National Delinquency Survey
• NIPA = (BEA) National Income and Product Accounts
• QBP = (FDIC) Quarterly Banking Profile
• SCUP = (OCC) Survey of Credit Underwriting Practices
• SLOOS = (FRB) Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey
• SOI = (IRS) Statistics of Income
• SOMA = (BOC) Survey of Market Absorption
• TIC = (U.S. Treasury) Treasury International Capital
• Z.1 = (FRB) Financial Accounts of the United States, f.k.a. Flow of Funds

Interbank rates by markets

• CDOR = Canadian dollar offered rate
• CHIBOR = for China
• CIBOR = for Copenhagen, Denmark
• CORRA = Canadian overnight repo rate average
• EONIA = euro overnight index average, the one-day EURIBOR
• EURIBOR = euro interbank offered rate (by EMMI)
• HIBOR = for Hong Kong
• HUFONIA = for Hungary
• LIBID = London interbank bid rate
• LIBOR = London interbank offered rate
• MIBOR = for Moscow
• MIBOR = for Mumbai, India
• ROBOR = for Romania
• RUONIA = rouble overnight index average (by Bank of Russia)
• SHIBOR = for Shanghai, China
• SIBOR = for Singapore
• SONIA = sterling overnight index average
• TELBOR = for Tel Aviv, Israel

Often the last phrase in a description

• CCAdj = capital consumption adjustment
• INA = information not available
• IVA = inventory valuation adjustment
• NEC / n.e.c. = not elsewhere classified
• NES / n.e.s. = not elsewhere specified
• NIE / n.i.e. = not indicated elsewhere
• NIOP / n.i.o.p. = no indicado en otra parte (see: n.i.e.)
• NOI / n.o.i. = not otherwise indicated
• NOS / n.o.s. = not otherwise specified

Incoterms

These pertain to merchandise shipping and trade, and describe when and under what conditions the title transfers between parties. In particular, the terms CIF and FOB often appear in external merchandise trade and related balance of payments statistics. The term is typically the last word in a description. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) establishes and publishes this taxonomy; this is a partial list.

• CFR = cost and freight
• CIF / c.i.f. = cost, insurance and freight
• CIP = carriage and insurance paid to
• FCA = free carrier
• FOB / f.o.b. = free on board

Seen in unit-descriptors

• AR = annualized rate
• AVE = average over period
• BOP = beginning of period (see also: EOP)
• CDA = calendar day adjusted (the result); calendar day adjustment (the process)
• CDASA = calendar day adjusted and seasonally adjusted
• CPPY = corresponding period of previous year
• D/D = day-over-day
• EOP = end of period (see also: BOP)
• M/M = month-over-month
• NSA = not seasonally adjusted, a.k.a. unadjusted
• Q/Q = quarter-over-quarter
• SA = seasonally adjusted, a.k.a. deseasonalized
• SAAR = seasonally adjusted and annualized rate
• WDA = working day adjusted, a kind of CDA
• W/W = week-over-week
• X/X = period-over-period where we've been unable to establish the interval
• Y/Y = year-over-year

Frameworks and taxonomies for datasets

Classifications have numbered versions, but there is no consensus on the punctuation. Even the official source may use inconsistent styling within a single document.

• BEC = UN Broad Economic Categories
• BPM = IMF Balance of Payments Manual (latest version: BPM6)
• COFOG = UN Classification of the Functions of Government
• COICOP = UN Classification of individual consumption according to purpose
• COPNI = UN Classification of the purposes of non-profit institutions serving households
• COPP = UN Classification of outlays of producers according to purpose
• CPC = UN Central Product Classification
• ESA = Eurostat System of National and Regional Accounts (a localization of SNA) (latest version: ESA 2010)
• ICATUS = UN International classification of activities for time use statistics
• GFSM = IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual (latest version: GFSM 2014)
• GICS = Global Industry Classification Standard
• HS = Harmonized System
• HTS = U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule
• ISIC = UN International Standard Industrial Classification
• ISCO = ILO International standard Classification of Occupations
• NACE = Eurostat statistical classification of economic activities, a localization of ISIC
• NAICS = North American Industrial Classification System
• SIC = U.S. Standard Industrial Classification, predecessor to NAICS
• SITC = UN Standard International Trade Classification
• SNA = UN System of National Accounts (latest version: SNA 2008)

National versions (localizations) of ISIC and NACE

• ANZSIC = Australia, New Zealand
• ATECO = Italy
• CAE = Portugal
• CAENES = a specialization of CIIU
• CIIU = Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay (clasificación industrial internacional uniforme)
• ClaNAE = Argentina, Peru
• CNAE = Brazil, Spain
• DB07 = Denmark
• EMTAK = Estonia
• EVRK = Lithuania
• HSIC = Hong Kong
• ICNEA = China
• JSIC = Japan
• KSIC = South Korea
• ???? = Ukraine
• MSIC = Malaysia
• NACEBEL = Belgium
• NACE.BG = Bulgaria
• NAF = France
• NIC = India
• NKD = Croatia
• NOGA = Switzerland
• ????? / OKVED = Russia
• ÖNACE = Austria
• PKD = Poland
• PSIC = Philippines
• SBI, SIC = Netherlands
• SIC = South Africa
• SIC, SNI, SN = Norway
• SIC, UKSIC = U.K. (Standard Industrial Classification)
• SKD = Slovenia
• SK NACE = Slovakia
• SNI = Sweden
• S????? / STAKOD = Greece
• TOL = Finland
• WZ 2008 = Germany
• VSIC = Vietnam

Institutional sectors

• MFI = monetary financial institution
• MMF = money market fund
• NFC = non-financial corporation
• NPISH = non-profit institution serving households
• OFI = other financial institution
• ROW = rest of the world

Geographic taxonomies

• ASGC = Australian Standard Geographical Classification- 2006
• ASGS = Australian Standard Geography Standard- 2011, 2016
• LGD = Norway - LGD92, LGD14
• NUTS = nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques / nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (Eurostat)
• SGC = standardized geographic classification

Geographic types

• CBSA = core-based statistical area, a.k.a. metro area (U.S.)
• CA = census agglomeration (Canada)
• CMA = census metropolitan area (Canada)
• DOM = départment d'outre-mer / overseas department (France)
• LAU = local administrative unit (Eurostat) - LAU 1 or 2
• MSA = metropolitan statistical area, a kind of CBSA (U.S.)
• NECTA = New England City and Town Area (U.S.)
• NUTS = NUTS 1, 2 or 3
• SAR = Special Administrative Region - Hong Kong, Macau
• ZIP = ZIP Code or ZIP Code area (USPS "zone improvement program")

Specific geographic areas or aggregates

• EA = euro area (see also: EZ)
• EU = European Union
• EZ = euro zone (see also: EA)
• GCC = Gulf Cooperation Council
• PRC = People's Republic of China, a.k.a. "mainland China"
• ROC = Republic of China, a.k.a. "Taiwan"
• USVI = U.S. Virgin Islands

Abbreviations not typically used on Data Buffet

We provide these to assist when you need to align Data Buffet and other sources. They do not appear in Data Buffet metadata unless we have not yet standardized to our own symbology; in particular, bulk datasets from the U.K. ONS use "CP" and "CVM".

• ARC = advance release calendar
• BN = back/next (see also: ON, SN, TN)
• CP = current prices
• CVM = chained volume measure
• NET = no earlier than (see also: ARC)
• NLT = no later than (see also: ARC)
• ON = overnight
• SN = spot/next
• TN = tomorrow/next

Local numeric multipliers

• '000 = thousand
• bn = billion
• crore = 10 million (multiplier used in India and related countries)
• lakh = 100 thousand (multiplier used in India and related countries)
• mln = million
• mio = million
• tn = trillion

Local currency symbols not used on Data Buffet

• A$ = Australian dollars (AUD)
• C$ = Canadian dollar (CAD)
• CN¥ = Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY)
• € = euro (EUR)
• HK$ = Hong Kong dollar (HKD)
• kr = krone or króna (Danish DKK, Icelandic ISK, Norwegian NOK, Swedish SEK)
• £ = pound sterling (GBP)
• NIS = new Israeli shekel (ISL)
• RMB = Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY)
• Rs. = rupee (Indian INR, Pakistani PKR, Sri Lankan LKR)
• R$ = Brazilian real (BRL)
• S$ = Singapore dollar (SGD)
• TW$ = Taiwan new dollar (TWD)
• ? = Korean won (KRW)
• ¥ = Chinese yuan renminbi (CNY)
• ¥ = Japanese yen (JPY)

Other

• ARM = adjustable-rate mortgage (see also: FRM)
• fip = official numeric code for a geographic area; a Data Buffet legacy usage derived from FIPS.
• FIPS = Federal Information Processing Standard (U.S.), a collection of documents that define lists of numeric codes for countries, states and counties; as of 2017, most of these standards are either defunct or have been transferred to other bodies.
• FRM = fixed-rate mortgage (see also: ARM)
• HDI = household disposable income
• HEL = home equity loan
• HELOC = home equity line of credit
• ISO 3166 = a standard for country codes
• ISO 4217 = a standard for currency codes
• WTI = West Texas Intermediate, a kind of crude oil benchmark price