DATASTREAM ECONOMICS
CONTINUOUS ENHANCEMENT THROUGH 2013
This was a landmark year for Economics on Datastream – bringing more meta data and tools to inform and
facilitate your work. The source attribute in Navigator’s series spotlight is now hyperlinked directly to the
home pages of the agency. Press Release nodes are available in the Economics Explorer for the G7
countries, Australia, the BRIC, PIGS and other G20 markets. These series lists mirror the original news
releases from which they were sourced – in terms of tables and indentation within them. There is a Focus
tool to facilitate scrolling within the list. For forecast series from Oxford Economics, the International
Monetary Fund, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, the break between historical and forecast observations
is shown with the timespan row in the series spotlight.
It was also an extraordinary year for revisions, involving changes to base periods, adoption of the latest
Balance of Payments definitions, new industry classifications, and other methodological changes. In the
series spotlight now, you can now access referrals which provide mnemonics of live series and discontinued
counterparts, resulting from revisions.
FORECASTS & EXPECTATIONS FOR LOOKING AHEAD
Reuters Economics Polls
Historical time series of the consensus results from Reuters Economics Polls are now available. Top
experts in financial and economic markets regularly contribute estimates of what they conclude headline
indicators will be when next released and those are compiled into consensus figures.This very important
addition provides timely access to insight on 600 economic indicators from polls with an excellent and
trusted track record. Coverage is global, encompassing 51 markets, and headline topics. Those include
output, inflation, current account balance, consumer and business confidence, industrial production, retail
sales, employment and unemployment, and others specific to an individual market.
European Forecasts from AMECO
The full Annual Macro-Economic Database (AMECO) of the European Commission's Directorate General
for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) is now available. The collection includes over 38,000 annual
series, with historical data from 1960 and short term forecasts over two-year horizon. The content details
major indicators of national accounts, financial sector balances, public debt, external trade, labour market,
and population. AMECO contains data for the European Union, the Euro Area, EU Member States, and
candidate countries. It also covers other OECD countries i.e. United States, Japan, Canada, Switzerland,
Norway, Iceland, Mexico, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
DGFIN sources a majority of the historical data from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European
Commission, supplemented by other appropriate national and international sources. There are three
releases of AMECO data per year: winter (released around February), spring (released around May), and
autumn (released around November). In the winter release most of actual historical data end two years
prior to the current year; while spring and autumn releases usually update historical data through the
previous year. For example in the spring 2013 publication, historical actuals go through the year 2012 while
forecasted values go to 2014.
Date of issue: December 2013
Continuous Innovation in Content
Datastream
New Information on U.S. Consumers
Over 2700 new monthly consumer confidence and expectation series from Thomson Reuters/University of
Michigan are now available, doubling the content set. The team at the University expanded their
questionnaire seeking more information on personal finances and housing markets from American
respondents. As a result, the consumer survey series now cover responses on what’s current and expected
for the following topics:
 financial and income situation, and contributing factor
 job security
 the retirement outlook
 investment values and outlook
 value of homes and selling conditions
 gasoline prices
 expectation 5 years out
Markit Introduced Sector PMI’s
Markit Economics has released detailed sector Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMI’s) to further provide
timely economic signals. The 630 new series cover both Global and European Union PMI’s. The data are
derived from survey panels of over 20,000 private sector companies around the world. Respondents are
asked to state whether business conditions for a number of variables have improved, deteriorated or stayed
the same compared with the previous month. These are aggregated to form raw PMI data in the same way
that standard PMI data are calculated, with an end result of seasonally adjusted diffusion indices.
Component indicators, such as output, order books, input prices, inventories and employment, are available
for 8 major groups, 18 sectors and 8 further subsectors based on the Markit Sector classifications. Series
are monthly with historical data from January 1998. These new PMI data are a contracted premium service.
Clients may subscribe by contacting Markit Economics directly through email to: economics@markit.
Short Term Energy Outlook
Series from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) are now
available. The dataset consists of 524 series covering the energy sector. The monthly historical data
generally start from 2009 and are forecasted up to December 2014. Coverage consists of coal, crude oil,
liquid fuels, electricity, natural gas, petroleum refinery, regional gasoline, and weather data mostly in terms
of supply, consumption, inventories and prices. Data are available for the United States however there are
also some OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC countries.
DATA FROM THE ECB AND BIS FOR TRACKING CURRENT SITUATION
ECB Bank Lending Survey
Coverage of the European Central Bank’s Lending Survey has been extended by 6 questions for addition of
another 376 series. Banks were asked about loan demand, credit lines, and credit standards – what the
situation was in past 3 months and is expected. Data were collected for Euro area borrowers and series
created for enterprises by size, consumer house purchases, and other consumer credit. The data are
quarterly with history from Q1 2003. For more details on the statistics, please visit the ECB website via this
link: http://www.ecb.int/stats/money/surveys/lend/html/index.en.html.
Other ECB Additions

Harmonised competitiveness indicators (HCIs). According to ECB, the HCIs provide “meaningful
and comparable measures of euro area countries' price and cost competitiveness that are also
Date of issue: December 2013
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Continuous Innovation in Content
Datastream
consistent with the real effective exchange rates (EERs) of the euro.” The new series include HCIs
based on either consumer price indices (CPI), GDP deflator, or unit labour costs.

Monthly lending and interest rates for loans by monetary financial institutions (MFI) to nonfinancial
corporations (NFC). The new coverage details rates for the entire maturity of loans granted by MFI’s
to NFC’s in EU countries. Historical values start in January 2003.
Bank for International Settlements
The project to develop the full set of International Banking Statistics from the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS) started in late 2012 and was completed early this year. Over 34,000 series are now
available from BIS. The BIS collects information, on behalf of the Committee on the Global Financial
System (CGFS), on cross-border activities of banks in financial and offshore centres. The data covers more
than 7,700 banking entities from 44 countries and is compiled into consistent, comparable series and global
aggregates.
Approximately 25,000 series are from the Consolidated Banking Statistics, which detail worldwide claims of
domestically owned banks. The consolidated statistics are composed of such claims and exposures on
immediate borrower basis, with history from Q4 1983; and on ultimate risk basis, with history from Q1 2005.
The consolidated statistics provide a measure of the risk of exposures of lenders’ national banking systems
as they present banks’ on-balance sheet financial claims on rest of the world.
The Locational Banking Statistics provide international financial claims and liabilities of all banks resident in
the reporting countries, using standard balance of payments concepts. The new content encompasses two
datasets: 1) Over 1,000 series for international positions by nationality of ownership of the reporting banks.
Cross-border and international positions are available vis-à-vis official monetary institutions, banks and nonbanks, and related offices. 2) About 7,000 series detailing BIS reporting bank positions by country of
residence of the counterparty. The claims and liabilities are available by instrument, sector and currency.
Data is reported as stocks outstanding, with non-US dollar positions converted into US dollars at end-period
exchange rates. Also included are valuation-adjusted changes as calculated by the BIS. The nationality
series have history to Q4 1983 and the residence set to Q4 1977.
NATIONAL COVERAGE FOR DOMESTIC ANALYSIS
Over 42,000 series were added to the core database from national sources, across many topics.
These were announced throughout the year in Content Updates.
A major project for expanding African coverage was undertaken. Series to make a summary
economic profile of countries were added for Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South
Africa, and Uganda. A similar project was begun for Russia and CIS, with release of new Russian
series.
In addition, 4400 macroeconomic series were added to the Eurostat database for the EU member
nations. Many of the series detailed HICPs and weights, balance of payments, government debt
and accounts.
INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS FOR COMPARABILITY
International Monetary Fund IFS
The tree presentation of the 180,000 series from IMF International Financial Statistics has been redone to
mirror current categorization by the International Monetary Fund and ensure comparability. In addition, the
series can now be viewed in either subject or area hierarchies. The current IMF-IFS subject groups are:
Date of issue: December 2013
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Continuous Innovation in Content
Datastream
Balance of Payments, Exchange Rates, External Trade, Financial Indicators, Fund Accounts, Government
Finance, International Investment Position, International Reserves, Labour Markets, National Accounts,
Price Indices, Industry Indicators, and Commodity Prices. For more details, see Content Update #6269.
OECD Annual National Accounts
Coverage has been expanded by 10,351 series on General Government Accounts for France, Ireland,
Japan, Luxembourg, and the Slovak Republic. The new annual series detail government expenditures of
the countries.
World Bank
The World Bank renamed their Global Development Finance database to International Debt Statistics and
made a few changes in overall contents. There were 2152 series that the Bank has ceased to publish
altogether and which were discontinued. Another 799 series that were in the GDF and duplicates of series
in the World Development Indicators dataset are not included in the IDS.
OTHER
Dissolution of Netherlands Antilles and Ramifications
The Netherlands Antilles, which was established in 1954 as an autonomous entity of the Kingdom
of Netherlands, ceased to exist in 2010 due to conflict among the island members. As a result of
the dissolution, the three islands of St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire (Caribbean Netherlands)
became special municipalities of Netherlands, officially considered public bodies under the Dutch
Law. Curacao and St. Maarten, on the other hand, became autonomous countries. As a result,
series for Netherlands Antilles have been discontinued in the database and series created for
Curacao and St. Maarten.
New EU member
Croatia joined the European Union which caused revision or creation of EU aggregate series on
the new definition.
Date of issue: December 2013
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