Monthly Bulletin April 2008 - European Central Bank - Europa

GLOSSARY
This glossary contains selected items that are frequently used in the Monthly Bulletin.
A more comprehensive and detailed glossary can be found on the ECB’s website
(www.ecb.europa.eu/home/glossary/html/index.en.html).
Autonomous liquidity factors: liquidity factors that do not normally stem from the use of
monetary policy instruments. Such factors are, for example, banknotes in circulation, government
deposits with the central bank and the net foreign assets of the central bank.
Balance of payments (b.o.p.): a statistical statement that summarises, for a specific period of
time, the economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world.
Bank lending survey (BLS): a quarterly survey on lending policies that has been conducted
by the Eurosystem since January 2003. It addresses qualitative questions on developments in
credit standards, terms and conditions of loans and loan demand for both enterprises and
households to a predefined sample group of banks in the euro area.
Borrowing requirement (general government): net incurrence of debt by general
government.
Capital account: a b.o.p. account that covers all capital transfers and acquisitions/disposals of
non-produced, non-financial assets between residents and non-residents.
Central parity (or central rate): the exchange rate of each ERM II member currency vis-à-vis
the euro, around which the ERM II fluctuation margins are defined.
Compensation per employee: the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, that is payable by
employers to employees, i.e. gross wages and salaries, as well as bonuses, overtime payments
and employers’ social security contributions, divided by the total number of employees.
Consolidated balance sheet of the MFI sector: a balance sheet obtained by netting out
inter-MFI positions (e.g. inter-MFI loans and deposits) in the aggregated MFI balance sheet. It
provides statistical information on the MFI sector’s assets and liabilities vis-à-vis residents of
the euro area not belonging to this sector (i.e. general government and other euro area residents)
and vis-à-vis non-euro area residents. It is the main statistical source for the calculation of
monetary aggregates, and it provides the basis for the regular analysis of the counterparts of
M3.
Current account: a b.o.p. account that covers all transactions in goods and services, income
and current transfers between residents and non-residents.
Debt (financial accounts): loans, deposit liabilities, debt securities issued and pension
fund reserves of non-financial corporations (resulting from employers’ direct pension commitments
on behalf of their employees), valued at market value at the end of the period. However, due to
data limitations, the debt given in the quarterly financial accounts does not include loans granted by
non-financial sectors (e.g. inter-company loans) or by banks outside the euro area, whereas these
components are included in the annual financial accounts.
ECB
Monthly Bulletin
April 2008
XI