Previous year price basis and chain linking in the National Accounts: the most important features of the new volume calculation

Since the major revision of the National Accounts in 2005, the Federal Statistical Office indicates the development of real GDP and its components on a previous-year-price basis. By means of chain linking, the initially non-comparable, individual annual results are transformed into comparable, long time-series. The change in method was made both for the annual accounts as well as for the quarterly accounts, which are based on the so-called annual-overlap procedure. Through the use of optimally current price structures, subsequent changes in the real development of components of GDP, which occurred in the previous fixed price system during the periodic change of the base year, are avoided. This article gives an overview of the most important features of the new volume calculation.