2009-2010 Part III - Departmental Performance Reports (DPR)

Description of Figure 7 Average Revision, Real Gross Domestic Product Quarterly Growth Rate, G7 Countries: 1995 to 2008

This vertical bar chart shows the average revision to the quarterly real gross domestic product growth rate for Canada and other G7 countries. The source is the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development, Main Economic Indicators, Original Release Data and Revisions Database.

The X axis lists the G7 countries: France, Canada, Italy, United Kingdom, United States, Germany and Japan.

The Y axis shows the percentage revision. The scale runs from 0.0% to 0.7%, in increments of 0.1%.

The seven countries and the percentage revision for each are as follows:

• France, 0.21%
• Canada, 0.22%
• Italy, 0.24%
• United Kingdom, 0.26%
• United States, 0.28%
• Germany, 0.31%
• Japan, 0.69%

The following definitions are provided:

• Real gross domestic product: This refers to a gross domestic product that has been adjusted for inflation.
• Quarterly growth rate: This refers to the quarter-to-quarter growth rate.
• Average revision: This refers to the average of the absolute revisions to real gross domestic product growth rate over the period.

The following performance results are given:

• Canada has the second lowest revision rate of the G7 countries. However, there is a trade-off between timeliness and accuracy as measured in the average revisions of the gross domestic product growth rate. Canadian users are often consulted on their views on these trade-offs, and are usually satisfied with the status quo.