Monetary and Financial Statistics and Financial Accounts

The area of Monetary and Financial Statistics and Financial Accounts covers a very wide range of different types of statistics. The legal basis for the development, collection, compilation and dissemination of these statistics by the Central Bank of Cyprus is laid down in a number of legal acts encompassing both Regulations and Guidelines issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Union. On the basis of these legal acts, the Central Bank of Cyprus has issued reporting instructions and guidelines addressed to the reporting agents.
The main purpose of the above statistics is to support the monetary policy of the ECB as well as the other tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) including tasks related to financial stability. In addition they serve users within the Central Bank of Cyprus as well as financial market analysts, academics and the general public.


The main types of statistics produced are the following:


Monetary and Financial Statistics
Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs) balance sheet statistics, both stocks and flows adjustments, are collected by the Central Bank of Cyprus from all MFIs operating in Cyprus. A list of MFIs is published on the ECB and the Central Bank of Cyprus websites. These statistics include monthly balance sheet items of the MFI sector, including the balance sheet of the Central Bank of Cyprus, analysed by currency, location of counterparty, maturity, as well as by sector and activity in accordance with ESA 2010 and NACE Rev.2 classifications, respectively.


The main purpose of the MFI balance sheet statistics is to provide a comprehensive statistical picture of monetary developments for Cyprus and ultimately for euro area. Moreover, they are used to calculate the minimum reserve requirements that MFIs must fulfil for monetary policy purposes.
Moreover, the Central Bank of Cyprus compiles statistics on the interest rates applied by MFIs in Cyprus to new and outstanding euro denominated loans and deposits vis à vis euro area households and non-financial corporations. The MFI interest rate data are used to monitor the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, to better understand the structure of financial markets, to assess financial conditions in different sectors of the euro area economy and to monitor financial integration.
Selected series of MFI balance sheet and interest rate statistics are released on a monthly basis in the Monetary and Financial Statistics Publication.
 

Further to the MFI Statistics, the Central Bank of Cyprus with a view to providing comprehensive statistical coverage of the financial sector also produces and transmits to the ECB statistics for the financial institutions outside the MFI sector. An aggregate balance sheet and flows of Investment Funds operating in Cyprus is compiled on a monthly basis with breakdowns of their assets by type of fund (equity, bond, mixed, real estate). A List of Investment Funds is published on the ECB and Central Bank of Cyprus websites. Because of the importance of Insurance Corporations and Pension Funds for the financial activity in the euro area, data on the main financial assets and liabilities of insurance corporations and pension funds are also compiled and transmitted to the ECB.


Moreover, statistics on Financial Markets are compiled, which include monthly data on volumes of debt securities and quoted shares (covering issues, redemptions and amounts outstanding). Securities issues are an alternative to bank finance for borrowers and complement monetary and financial data.


Financial Accounts
Financial Accounts are produced quarterly by the Central Bank of Cyprus in accordance with the methodology of “ESA 2010”. They cover the financial balance sheet positions and the financial transactions between the domestic institutional sectors (non-financial corporations, monetary financial institutions, investment funds, other financial intermediaries and financial auxiliaries, insurance corporations, pension funds, general government and households) and between these domestic institutional sectors and the rest of the world, including other euro area countries. Financial Accounts are mainly used to analyse the nature and movement of borrowing and investment observed in the economy, as well as for financial stability analysis purposes. Their framework also allows the consistency checks between other financial statistics, such as monetary, balance of payments/international investment position, securities issues and government finance.
The Financial Accounts are currently compiled by utilising various existing statistics from the MFI balance sheet, the balance of payments/international investment position, investment fund data, securities issues statistics and security holdings statistics. Other data sources include data from the Cyprus Stock Exchange, from the annual financial statements of insurance companies , pension funds and other financial and non-financial companies. The quarterly financial accounts of the general government produced by the Statistical Service of Cyprus are also incorporated in the financial accounts. The compilation of financial accounts also include the development of a number of estimation methods for those items for which no data sources are available, as well as the warranty of the internal consistency of the system.