Services are the result of a production activity that changes the conditions of the consuming units, or facilitates the exchange of products or financial assets. Services are not generally separate items over which ownership rights can be established and cannot generally be separated from their production.
For the compilation of international trade in services, a mixed collection system is in place. The main surveys conducted by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) are listed below:
• Quarterly “Services” survey, which is addressed to resident legal entities engaged in trade in services with other countries.
• Quarterly “Profit and Loss” survey, which is addressed to all resident Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs). Under the specific survey, MFIs report, inter alia, their cross-border transactions in services.
• Quarterly “Insurance” survey, which is addressed to resident legal entities who provide and/or procure insurance/reinsurance services or insurance brokerage services.
• Quarterly “Money Transfers” survey, which is addressed to all resident companies/businesses involved in the provision of money transfer services.
• Semi-annual “Ship-management” survey, which is addressed to resident companies who provide ship-management services to ship-owning companies registered both in Cyprus and abroad.
• Annual “Ship-owning” survey, which is addressed to the seven biggest accounting firms in Cyprus that, in total, represent a large number of ship-owning companies. The said survey collects aggregated economic information by basic characteristics (type of ship and tonnage capacity).
• Annual “Education” survey, which is addressed to all higher education institutions / colleges / universities, operating in Cyprus, and attended by non-resident students.
Apart from the surveys, another important source of information for the compilation of services in External Statistics is the companies' financial statements.
Furthermore, several surveys conducted by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) as well as other available administrative sources are used for the compilation of services.
Finally, services data are supplemented with estimates performed by the CBC in coordination with Cystat.