Components of Gross Domestic Product (expenditure-based)

1. - Final consumption expenditure

Final consumption expenditure' refers to the amount of expenditure on consumption of goods and services. Household final consumption expenditure consists of expenditures incurred by resident households on individual consumption of goods and services, including those sold at prices that are not economically significant, consumption of goods and services acquired abroad and expenditures whose value must be estimated indirectly. Household final consumption expenditure excludes expenditures incurred by general government and non-profit institutions serving households on behalf of individual households (e.g., health care and education). General government final consumption expenditure consists of expenditure, including expenditure whose value must be estimated indirectly, incurred by general government on both individual consumption of goods and services and collective consumption. Final consumption expenditure of non-profit institutions serving households consists of the expenditure, including expenditure whose value must be estimated indirectly, incurred by resident non-profit institutions serving households on individual consumption of goods and on collective consumption.

2. - Gross fixed capital formation

Gross fixed capital formation' refers to the value of producers' acquisitions of fixed assets, less the value of their disposals of fixed assets of the same type. The costs of ownership transfer are also treated as gross fixed capital formation.

3. - Investment in inventories

'Investment in inventories' refers to the transactions in the capital account relating to change in the level of inventories. It includes inventories of materials and supplies, work-in-progress, finished goods, and goods for resale. Changes in inventories are measured by the value of the entries into inventories less the value of withdrawals and less the value of any recurrent losses of goods held in inventories during the accounting period.

4. - Exports of goods and services

'Exports of goods and services' refers to current receipts arising out of transactions in moveable goods or services between residents and non-residents. Services include travel, freight and shipping, business services, government transactions, financial intermediation and other services.

5. - Imports of goods and services

'Imports of goods and services' refers to current payments arising out of transactions in moveable goods or services between residents and non-residents. Services include travel, freight and shipping, business services, government transactions, financial intermediation and other services. Within this classification on components of GDP, imports are accounted as negative values.

6. - Statistical discrepancy

'Statistical discrepancy' refers to the difference between two theoretically equal aggregates arising as a result of basic statistics and estimation techniques. National accounting macroeconomic aggregates, such as gross domestic product and net lending, can often be calculated in two or more ways. In principle, all the measures of an aggregate are equal. In practice, differences invariably arise due to imperfections in basic statistics and estimation techniques. This difference is called a statistical discrepancy and serves as the balancing item between two theoretically equal aggregates. It can be recorded as is, like the discrepancy between the Current and Capital Accounts and the Financial Account in the Balance of Payments. Alternatively, it can be divided in two, with one half being subtracted from the higher estimate and the other, added to the lower one, such as the discrepancy between income-based and expenditure-based gross domestic product.