The ONS International Business Unit will work with some of the largest multinationals to ensure that their activities are recorded accurately and attributed to the correct countries. It comes amid increasingly globalisation and the way the accounting of large multinationals can impact economic statistics such as gross domestic product (GDP), trade and balance of payments.

The new unit will focus on: understanding the issues involved with the restructuring of multinationals; gaining a better understanding of the scale and extent of globalisation issues; getting consistency across all the survey and administrative data collected; and ensuring that ONS asks the appropriate questions of the multinationals.

Sarah Eaton, head of the ONS International Business Unit said: “As the economy becomes more globalised, large multinational enterprises are having a pronounced effect on national economies. Policymakers and analysts will benefit from an enhanced understanding of the scale, location and impact of these business giants. The commitment of ONS to this area of research represents another step in the ongoing development of the UK’s official statistics to fully reflect a rapidly changing economic order.”