INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Table 28.11 provides an international comparison of OECD countries' general government net financial liabilities as a percentage of nominal GDP. The Australian GDP data are on a 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA) basis while other countries are on a 1993 SNA basis. The table provides an indication of the countries' relative financial positions.

Net financial liabilities measures the gross financial liabilities of the general government sector less the financial assets of the general government sector. Depending on the institutional structure of the country concerned and data availability, such assets may be cash, bank deposits, loans to the private sector, participation in private sector companies, holdings in public corporations or foreign exchange reserves. If a country's general government records a negative percentage for its net financial liabilities as a percentage of nominal GDP, its financial assets are greater than its financial liabilities.

Australia's general government net financial liabilities increased to 1.8% of GDP in 2010, ranking Australia 10th lowest out of the 30 countries represented, a drop from 9th in 2009.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Australia	–4.7	–7.3	–7.6	–3.8	1.8
Austria	33.9	30.8	33.6	38.6	44.0
Belgium(a)	77.2	73.3	73.9	80.1	80.8
Canada	26.3	22.9	22.4	28.4	30.4
Czech Republic	–11.7	–14.2	–6.0	–1.8	3.7
Denmark	1.9	–3.8	–6.6	–4.6	–1.1
Estonia	–31.4	–29.6	–26.2	–29.1	–35.2
Finland(b)	–69.4	–72.6	–52.4	–63.2	–63.9
France	37.2	34.8	42.7	49.3	56.6
Germany(c)	47.4	42.2	43.9	47.9	50.1
Greece	86.1	80.4	88.9	100.5	114.2
Hungary	51.2	52.3	51.4	58.5	60.6
Iceland	7.9	–1.0	26.0	39.9	43.1
Ireland	1.5	–0.2	12.5	26.8	59.1
Italy	90.7	87.1	89.9	100.5	99.1
Japan(d)	84.3	81.5	96.5	110.0	116.3
Korea, Republic of (South)(e)	–37.0	–40.4	–37.9	–38.4	–37.3
Luxembourg	–44.7	–44.1	–44.7	–45.6	–40.0
Netherlands	31.6	27.9	26.8	29.9	34.6
New Zealand	–8.1	–13.1	–12.6	–8.9	–4.5
Norway	–135.2	–141.6	–126.4	–156.0	–165.9
Poland	22.4	17.0	17.3	22.5	28.7
Portugal	50.1	49.6	54.0	64.3	68.8
Slovakia	6.4	7.3	8.9	17.2	20.4
Slovenia	–9.9	–17.6	–5.7	0.1	7.2
Spain	23.2	18.7	23.3	34.8	40.2
Sweden	–18.9	–22.5	–16.6	–24.4	–26.1
Switzerland	5.5	1.0	2.8	1.7	1.2
United Kingdom	27.5	28.5	33.0	44.0	56.3
United States of America	41.7	42.6	48.2	59.8	67.3
Euro area	46.6	42.5	46.6	53.6	57.5
Total OECD	40.0	38.2	43.5	52.1	57.7
Note: Net debt measures are not always comparable across countries due to different definitions or treatment of debt (and asset) components. First, the treatment of government liabilities with respect to their employee pension plans may be different. For further details see OECD Economic Outlook Sources. Second, the range of items included as general government assets differs across countries. For example, equity holdings are excluded from government assets in some countries, whereas foreign exchange, gold and SDR holdings are considered as assets in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. For details, see OECD Economic Outlook Sources and Methods. For euro area countries with unsustainable fiscal positions that have asked for assistance from the European Union and the IMF (Greece, Ireland and Portugal), the change in 2010 in government financial liabilities has been approximated by the change in government liabilities recorded for the Maastricht definition of general government debt.
(a) Includes the debt of the Belgium National Railways Company (SNCB) from 2005 onwards.
(b) From 1995 onwards housing corporation shares are no longer classified as financial assets.
(c) Includes the debt of the Inherited Debt Fund from 1995 onwards.
(d) Includes the debt of the Japan Railway Settlement Corporation and the National Forest Special Account from 1998 onwards.
(e) Data are on a non-consolidated basis (1993 SNA).
Source: OECD Economic Outlook 89 database, Annex Table 33.