Nowcashing: Using Daily Fiscal Data for Real-Time Macroeconomic Analysis

Download or read book Nowcashing: Using Daily Fiscal Data for Real-Time Macroeconomic Analysis written by Florian Misch and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally, fiscal data for policy analysis are derived from official reports that, depending on the country, are published either monthly, quarterly or annually, often with significant time lags. However, innovations in digitalization of government payments and accounting systems mean that real-time daily fiscal data exist in many countries. In this paper, we argue that these data contain valuable, but underutilized and underexploited information. Possible uses include (i) realtime fiscal surveillance which allows for much more timely responses to emerging signs of fiscal stress, and (ii) nowcasting economic activity, which is especially useful in countries where higher frequency GDP statistics are unavailable.