The data on liabilities refer to public corporations not belonging to general government whose liabilities exceed 0.01% of gross domestic product. The liabilities of all units are fully included, also in cases where the public share in a unit is less than 100%.
Every unit is allocated as a whole to the controlling subsector of general government (central government, state government, local government, social security funds). This is done in accordance with the regulations of the European System of National and Regional Accounts and is based, among other things, on the ownership structure.
Distinguishing between units involved in financial activities and those involved in other activities is based on the German Classification of Economic Activities (currently 2008 edition, WZ 2008). Units involved in financial activities are classified under Section K "Financial and insurance activities" (excluding central banking).
The majority of units involved in financial activities are public (deposit-taking) monetary financial institutions. Data for public (deposit-taking) monetary financial institutions are provided by Deutsche Bundesbank. Liabilities of public (deposit-taking) monetary financial institutions refer to the stock at the end of year, at nominal value, as presented in business balance sheets (not group-consolidated) excluding own resources (equity, reserves and provisions).
The data on the other units come from the annual debt statistics for public funds, institutions and enterprises. The relevant liabilities refer to total debt owed to the public and non-public sector. Loss-making corporations are identified on the basis of previous year's data from the statistics of annual accounts of public funds, institutions and enterprises. The data used are those on the annual loss from the profit and loss account.
Mutual debt of public corporations is not consolidated.