Recreation, culture and CG080 x x xx x x x x xxx x
Recreatio nal and s po rting 8.01 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Cultural services 8.02o o oo o o o o ooo o
Bro adcas ting and publis hing 8.03 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Religio us and o ther c.s. 8.04 o o o o o o o o o o o o
R&D Recreation, culture and 8.05 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Recreation, culture and 8.06 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Educatio n CG090 x x xx x x x x xxx x
P re-primary and primary 9.01 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Secondary education 9.02 o o o o o o o o o o o o
P o s t-s eco ndary no n-tertiary 9.03 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Te rtia ry e duc a tio n 9.04 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Educatio n no t defined by 9.05 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Subsidiary services to 9.06o o oo o o o o ooo o
R&D Education 9.07 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Educatio n n.e.c. 9.08 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Social protection CG100 x x xx x x x x xxx x
Sicknes s and dis ability 10.01 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Old age 10.02 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Survivors 10.03o o oo o o o o ooo o
Family and children 10.04 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Unemplo yment 10.05 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Ho us ing 10.06 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Social exclusion n.e.c. 10.07 o o o o o o o o o o o o
R&D So cial pro tectio n 10.08 o o o o o o o o o o o o
Social protection n.e.c. 10.09 o o o o o o o o o o o o
TOTAL TCG x x xx x x x x xxx x(*) Rows in dark show new additional information we consider particularly relevant in the analysis of QPF.
The COFOG-groups positively associated with economic growth account only for a limited number of
all COFOG-groups. The definition of these groups, which is not yet established, is the subject of the
work in progress of the WGQPF for which there will be significant benefit from better availability of
data on expenditures. A number of 40-50 COFOG-groups (covering only the General government sector
as a whole) of 69 in total could be interesting from the quality perspective.
However, instead of singling out specific COFOG-groups, we propose as a first step a complete
expansion of ESA95 TP table 11^2 from COFOG-divisions to COFOG-groups (on a voluntary basis). The
present choice of functions might change in the light of further research. Furthermore, only the full list of
COFOG-groups warrants synergies with other potential users of these data (Member States, EU, OECD,
economic and social sciences in general).
It should be noted that regulation 113/2002, with regard to revised classifications of expenditure
according to purpose, already includes the second level of the COFOG classification in ESA 95, but
standardised transmission tables have only been defined for the first level and data collection, therefore,
only started for the first level. In this respect, the EFC Status Report on Information Requirements in
EMU, as endorsed by the Ecofin in June 2004, states that: ‘The analysis of the quality of public finance
receives an increasing importance and would benefit from the availability for all Member States of
statistics on the functional classification of government expenditure (COFOG), in accordance with the
Commission proposal for the revision of the ESA 95 transmission programme. Complete expenditure
data for general government on the second COFOG level would provide the best basis for aggregate
analysis.’ Overall, clear legal and political guidance has been given to continue this process and include
the second level of the COFOG in the ESA 95 transmission tables.
In addition, the present form of data transmission to the IMF in the context of GFS statistics already
foresees to provide (where available) data at the second level of classification. The classification adopted
in the GFS Yearbook Questionnaire foresees two classification digits for the functions “Economic
Affairs”, “Health” and “Education” in the following format:
(^2) But just for the general government sector and not for sub-sectors.