I was reading the following: https://thistimeitisdifferent.com/ecb-balance-sheet-july-2019
I'm trying to calculate the Asset / GDP ratio (they get around 40%) for July-19.
The asset number is $4,667,463$ (million euros). Just taking the corresponding GDP figure from the datasource of $2,981,863.20$ (million euros) and dividing gives a much higher ratio.
At the very bottom of the article, they outline the method that they use for GDP as a "rolling four quarter (annualized) average"
How do I calculate the above?
My approach was:
1: Take GDP data (first comment at bottom of the article there is a link), then calculating the % change per quarter.
2: Multiply the % change by 4 to give an annual figure
3: Calculate the average for 4 quarters, then discard that data and move onto the 5th datapoint calculate the average for datapoint 5 to 9 etc.
I don't get anywhere near the 40% number they say in the article...
What am i doing wrong?
Thanks!
Wikipedia gives a EU GDP of 18.8 trillion euros in 2018. The 4.7 trillion ECB balance sheet is close to 40% of this. I don't know why you are looking at GDP change per quarter instead of just looking up the value, nor where the 2.98 trillion euro GDP comes from.