As part of the series of monthly conferences with the press, the government said last week that it has calculated Monaco's GDP to stand at EUR3.4 billion (US$4.5 billion), or a little under EUR50,000 per capita.

The data, announced by Gilles Tonelli, Government Counsellor for Finance and the Economy, was obtained by consulting group, Mazars, with the help of the Department of Economic Expansion that conducted a survey, in June 2006, of all economic agents in the Principality.

The government hopes that by this time next year, it will also have announced figures relating to gross national income. Revenue of workers who are non-residents of the Principality will be excluded from these figures.

In calculating its GDP value, the authorities had to take into account both non-resident workers (31,386 French and 3,566 Italians), which make up 80% of the territory's workforce, as well as resident employees (34,021).

The government opted for a formula based on four fundamental figures: the total cost of remuneration (EUR759.8 million), EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, EUR1.4 billion) and tax (EUR428.5 million), from which the amount of grants is deducted (EUR156.7 million).

The GDP calculation initiative has been undertaken to follow through on a commitment by Prince Albert II to contribute 0.7% of the Principality's GDP to the United Nations' Millennium for Development project. It will also enable Monaco to calculate its compulsory contributions to international organizations, while giving the Principality economic evaluation and indication tools comparable to those of other countries.

The lack of a structure for the collection of income declarations or national accounts statistics, in addition to economic boundaries that are hard to define has meant the the Principality has hitherto not been able to calculate its own GDP.