Balance of the National Economy, a system of scientifically grounded and interrelated indicators describing as a single whole the basic features of expanded socialist reproduction (see Reproduction, Socialist), the most important proportions in the development of the national economy. It forms a quantitative model of socialist reproduction. In this balancing, a distinction is made between the planning balance and the current balance. By using the planning balance the optimal development of the economy for the ensuing period can be defined. The current balance characterises the actual results of fulfilment of plan tasks, and contains analytical material essential for the compilation of the next planning balance. It may also include certain indicators not foreseen in the plan (indicators of additional resources, unforeseen losses, etc.). The indicators of the expanded reproduction of the aggregate (gross) social product form the basis of the balance of the national economy. They reflect the material content of the gross and final social product, the material relations between the economic branches, as well as the proportions by value of the production, distribution and final use of the social product and the national income. The expanded reproduction of the social product is not treated separately in the balance of the economy but as a whole, along with the reproduction of labour power and of the instruments and objects of labour. The social labour, production, distribution, exchange, consumption and accumulation of the social product and national income are all expressed in the balance as parts of a single whole. The balance of the national economy is made up of the following basic divisions: 1) reproduction of labour resources; 2) reproduction of the social product in its physical unit composition; 3) reproduction of the social product by value, as in the formation and use of incomes; and 4) reproduction of the national wealth. Each of these divisions is presented in the balance of the national economy as composite balances, among which are: the balance of labour resources in the economy; the balance of the production, consumption and accumulation of the social product (a composite material balance); the balance of the production, distribution, redistribution and final use of the social product and national income (a composite financial balance); and the balance (inter-branch) of the production and distribution of the social product. In turn, each of the composite balances is organically extended by a system of local balances or tables which provide more detail about individual aspects of reproduction. In addition, each local balance is also of independent significance. Among them are: the balance of labour resources by individual regions of the country; the balance for time usage by workers in separate branches of the economy; material balances for individual types of product; the balance of the money incomes and expenditures of the population; the balance of the fixed assets; the balance table for the accumulation of wealth and a series of others. The balance of the national economy is usually drawn up for a 12-month period in current prices, which makes it possible to determine the relations and interconnections of expanded reproduction. For studying the economy’s development dynamics, the most important indicators are also calculated in comparable prices. The basic figures in the balance of the national economy are broken 23 down according to the form of socialist property and social population group, which allows an analysis of the processes by which socialist relations of production are strengthened and improved.