The analysis provided below is based on a selection of indicators derived from quarterly national accounts by institutional sector (QSA), which allow a timely analysis of the behaviour of households and non-financial corporations in the different phases of the economic cycle. At present only raw QSA series are compiled: a project is currently being carried out to produce seasonally adjusted data. Some results are going to be published by 2010.
In order to smooth series which are generally volatile and seasonal, the variables presented here are calculated as the moving sum of the value of the last four quarters (“moving year”): therefore, the data provided in the tables refer to the last quarter and the three preceding ones and not only to the last quarter. Accordingly, the value for the fourth quarter of 2009 refers to the period January 2009-December 2009, while the value for the third quarter refers to the period October 2008 – eptember 2009.