Federal General Government

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The federal government is a large and complex subsector. It is generally composed of a central group of departments that make up a single institutional unit plus, other institutional units such as funds and organizations. The departments are responsible for considerable amounts of expenditure within the framework of the government's overall budget, but often they are not separate institutional units capable of owning assets, incurring liabilities, engaging in transactions, etc., independently of federal government as a whole.
The departments of the federal government are often deliberately dispersed geographically and located in different parts of the country, but they nevertheless remain parts of a single institutional unit. Similarly, if the federal government maintains branch offices or agencies in different parts of the country to meet local needs, including military bases or installations that serve national defence purposes, these must also be counted as parts of a single institutional unit for federal government.

In addition to government departments and ministries, there may be agencies of federal government with separate legal identity and substantial autonomy; they may have discretion over the volume and composition of their expenditures and may have a direct source of revenue such as earmarked taxes. Such agencies are often established to carry out specific functions such as road construction or the non-market production of health or education services. These units are treated as separate institutional units if they maintain full sets of accounts and remain part of the federal government as long as the services they produce are non-market, and are controlled by the federal government.

To obtain the list of institutional units included in this subsector, consult the Public Sector Universe.