Insights into subsidies across a range of sectors, or subsidies that operate across the economy, can be gained from other data sources.
Information on subsidies as extracted from the IMF Government Finance Statistics (GFS) database can be accessed through this page. The GFS contains fiscal data for all reporting countries in the framework of the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014); its coverage of subsidies is described beginning in GSFM 2014 paragraph 6.84. The GFS database includes data for the general government sector and its subsectors (e.g., central government, local government, state government, and social security funds). The GFS website also includes preset indicators and provides the option to download data with customized queries. The data are compiled by country authorities and reported to the IMF annually.
The WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement contains a number of notification requirements in the areas of subsidies and countervailing actions. The SCM Agreement (Article 25.2) requires notification of any subsidy as defined in the Agreement, which is specific, as also defined in the Agreement. In addition, the GATT (Article XVI:1) requires notification of any subsidy that directly or indirectly causes trade effects. WTO Members are required to submit a new and full subsidy notification every two years, covering all goods-related subsidies, regardless of sector, i.e., agricultural and non-agricultural.
The WTO subsidy database, which was prepared by converting the 2021 cycle of new and full subsidy notifications submitted by WTO Members into spreadsheet format, contains information as required by the agreed subsidy notification format: description, policy objective, duration, and type of the notified measures as well as information on the eligibility criteria, monetary amounts, and statistical data on the potential trade effects of the measures, as notified by relevant WTO Members.
Information on countervailing duty (CVD) investigations and measures also can provide insights on subsidies pertaining to certain traded products. The WTO countervailing measures database contains the information notified by WTO Members in their semi-annual reports of countervailing actions.
Information on CVD investigations and resulting measures, along with other actions against dumping and import surges, is also available from the World Bank’s Temporary Trade Barriers Database collected from national trade remedy procedures across countries that is updated regularly, with data going back to the 1980s.