Data and Statistics
Last Updated: December 1, 2009
International Financial Statistics - Code Structure |
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The following describes the meaning of the thirteen-character IFS time series code, as an aid to locating data. IFS time series codes provide information about the time series that supplements the text descriptors. Positions 1-3 of the code refer to the country and/or area; positions 4-8 refer to the subject/topic; position 9 refers to the time series version or government finance sector; position 10 refers to the publication code; and positions 11-13 refer to the partner country. As a matter of convention, a period (".") is always used as a position holder to indicate a blank in the time series code.
Illustration of an IFS time series code:
1. The code 23867R..zf... can be broken down by position, as illustrated below.
| Position | Description | Code | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Country Code | 238 | Costa Rica |
| 4-8 | Subject | ||
| 4 | Topic | 6 | interest rates, prices, production or labor |
| 5 | Subsection | 7 | labor |
| 6-7 | Classification | R. | unemployment rate |
| 8 | Qualification | . | none |
| 9 | Version Code or Govt Finance Sector | z | first |
| 10 | Publication | f | IFS |
| 11-13 | Partner country/commodity market | ... | none |
Description of codes used in IFS, by position below
The first three positions of an IFS time series identify the country or area to which the time series data relate. The term "country" does not always refer to a territorial entity that is a state as understood by international law and practice; the term also covers the euro area and some territorial (nonsovereign) entities, for which statistical data are provided internationally on a separate basis.
The country/group code always consists of three numeric digits. The regional and analytical groups for the IFS world tables typically include world (001), advanced economies (110), emerging & developing economies (200) which is further broken down to Africa (605), developing Asia (505), Middle East (405), Western Hemisphere (205) and Europe (170) which contains two sub-groups: central and eastern Europe (904), and CIS and Mongolia (901). Also, fuel export earnings (080) and nonfuel export earnings (092) groups are included in many tables as memorandum items.
Users are encouraged to consult the online Country and Area Codes file for country/area codes.
Position 4 of the time series key identifies the institutional, topical, or subject area of this series, as indicated below. Note that for several subject areas, position 5 further identifies which subject.
| .(dot) | exchange rate, Fund position, or international liquidity |
| 1 | central bank/monetary authorities |
| 2 | other depository corporations/deposit money banks |
| 3 | depository corporations survey/monetary survey |
| 4 | other financial corporations/other banking/nonbank financial institutions |
| 5 | financial corporations survey/banking survey |
| 6 | interest rates, prices, production, or labor |
| 7 | international transactions |
| a or c | government finance (a for accrual and c for cash basis) |
| 9 | national accounts or population |
Monetary Statistics
For monetary statistics (i.e., beginning with the topic codes of 1-5), beginning with the April 2009 issue of IFS, there are two presentations of monetary statistics. The first presentation is the new presentation of monetary statistics published in the IFS Supplement on Monetary and Financial Statistics, which was discontinued in March 2009. The second presentation is the traditional, albeit outdated, presentation published in IFS. Please refer to the IFS introduction for additional information on the presentations. The subsection code of the time series code can specify one of the following subsections:
New presentation for monetary statistics (subsection codes):
| 0 | claims on the central bank |
| 1 | claims on nonresidents and net foreign assets |
| 2 | claims on domestic sectors and net claims on central government |
| 4 | liquid monetary liabilities including components of monetary base, currency in circulation outside of banks, and transferable deposits |
| 5 | other deposit liabilities (non-transferable) of the financial system |
| 6 | liabilities excluded from the national definition of broad money, including deposits, securities, loans, financial derivatives, and insurance and technical reserves |
| 7 | shares and other equity due to owners and other items net |
Traditional presentation for monetary statistics (subsection codes):
| 0 | reserves |
| 1 | foreign assets |
| 2 | domestic credit |
| 4 | liabilities included in definition of money |
| 5 | liabilities included in the definition of quasi-money |
| 6 | non-monetary liabilities |
| 7 | capital and unclassified liabilities |
Interest Rates, Prices, Production or Labor (subsection codes)
Under the topic Interest Rates, Prices, Production or Labor (i.e., beginning with the topic code of 6), the subsection code can specify one of the following:
| 0 | interest rates |
| 1 | bond yields |
| 2 | share prices |
| 3 | wholesale prices |
| 4 | consumer prices |
| 5 | earnings |
| 6 | production |
| 7 | labor |
International Transactions (subsection codes)
Trade data are a subset of the international transactions (topic code 7), and use the following subsector codes:
| 0 | exports |
| 1 | imports |
| 2 | volume of exports |
| 3 | volume of imports |
| 4 | unit value of exports |
| 5 | unit value of imports |
| 6 | export prices |
Government Finance Statistics
For government finance statistics, the subsection refers to the classification system as explained in the Government Finance Statistics 2001 Manual. Reference: (www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/gfs/manual/index.htm; see Appendix 4: Classification, on the bottom of the website).
The classification codes, when present, provide classification distinctions. For example, for production indicators, alphabetic codes may identify specific production statistics, such as:
| AA | crude petroleum |
| AB | refined petroleum |
| AG | copra |
| AL | total fish catch |
| BX | agricultural |
| C | copper |
| EY | manufacturing |
| KR | gold |
| T | tourist arrivals |
| TA | # of tourists |
| TB | # of tourist nights |
| ZE | energy |
| ZX | mining |
| D | labor force |
| E | employment |
| C | unemployment |
| R | unemployment rate |
| DR | aluminum |
| KR | gold |
| RR | steel |
| WX | plywood |
| U | bananas |
| N | rice |
| I | sugar |
The qualification code provides information about special characteristics of the data. It may indicate a statistical procedure, an institutional identity, a level of government, or the currency of the data observation. The list below summarizes these qualification codes:
| .(dot) | national currency (n.c.) data or unadjusted data |
| A | seasonal factors |
| B | seasonally adjusted by IMF |
| C | seasonally adjusted by reporting country |
| D | U.S. dollars |
| E | transactions in convertible currencies |
| F | U.S. dollars, seasonally adjusted |
| P | constant prices (unadjusted) |
| Q | constant prices (seasonal factors) |
| R | constant prices (seasonally adjusted by reporting country) |
| S | SDRs |
| T | indicates a comparable time series that requires more than one magnitude |
| U | SDRs, seasonally adjusted |
| X | exchange rate index; percent change over corresponding period of previous year |
| Y | price quotation or unit value in n.c. units |
| Z | price quotation or unit value in U.S. dollars |
These qualification codes are also used depending on the subject area as follows:
-
For deposit money banks, the qualification codes provides institutional breakdowns as follows:
H other monetary institutions I post office R private sector U Euro Area-Wide Residency -
For non-bank financial institutions, the code is used to distinguish types of institutions that are generally as follows:
F finance and securities companies G, H, I, J savings institutions K, M, N, O development institutions L, S insurance companies X trustee accounts - For interest rates, the qualification code F specifies rates on instruments denominated in foreign currency.
- For price indices and wages, the qualification code plus the second position of the classification code, indicated as XX, specify the percent change over previous period.
- For production, the qualification code I appears in the industrial production series for 22 industrial countries, to indicate non-seasonal adjustment.
A one-position alphabetic code is used to identify the revisions of concept and content of a time series and is identified by Z [the first (earliest) version]. It could also, in combination with the 10th position, indicate the government sector (BA for Budgetary Central Government, CG for Central Government and GG for General Government).
A one-position alphabetic code in position 10 of the time series code, used to identify the IMF publication containing the series. All series in IFS contain publication code F, except:
- for certain euro area series (which contain the code W for euro-denominated data),
- for the "Standardized Report Forms" (SRFs) series for those member countries that have commenced the reporting, on a regular basis, of monetary data that accord with the methodology in the IMF's Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual (MFSM), 2000. These series contain the code k in position 10, and
- for government finance time series, in combination with the 9th position, it indicates the sector (BA in 9th and 10th positions indicate Budgetary Central Government, CG indicate Central Government, and GG indicate General Government).