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Developing a Developing a Regional Programme Regional Programme for the Improvement of Economic for the Improvement of Economic Statistics in Asia and the PacificStatistics in Asia and the Pacific

Artur AndrysiakStatistics Development and Analysis Section

ESCAPE-mail: andrysiak@un.org

1

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Overview• Background

– Overview of current situation

– Decision of the Committee on Statistics

• Regional Programme– Approach to the development of the programme– Work completed during 2009

– Aim and target areas of the Programme

– Core Set of Economic Statistics

• Next Steps

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BackgroundBackground

• The economic statistics have not received a lot of attention in the Asia-Pacific region, the main focus has been on the MDGs

• Many developing countries in the region lack the capacity to produce and disseminate basic financial and economic data required for compiling of a minimum set of national accounts and short-term economic indicators

• Most developing Asia-Pacific countries have still not been able to fully implement 1993 SNA

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Milestone levels achieved by subregion

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 2 3 4 5 6Milestone level

Percentage of countries

ENEA SEA SSWA NCA Pacific ESCAP total

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Status of SNA implementation in Asia and the Pacific

8

25

24

5

2

312

8

9

6

1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

SNA68 SNA68/ 93 SNA93 SNA2008 No SNA/ No info

Number of ESCAP countries

Pacific SEA SSWA NCA ENEA

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Availability of selected economic statistics

16

34

37

48

49

56

56

57

58

26

0 10 20 30 40 50

Volume/ Turnover in Services

Retail Trade Turnover

Producer Price Index

Industrial Production Index

Wages/ Earnings

Balance of Payments

Consumer Price Index

National Accounts

Employment/ Unemployment

Merchandise Trade

Statistical domains

No. of ESCAP Asia-Pacific countries

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Availability of censuses and surveys

39

43

53

33

26

56

19

15

5

25

32

2

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Establishment/ Enterprisesurvey

Labour force Survey

Household Income andExpenditure Survey

Agricultural census

Economic census

Population census

Source data used Source data not used/No info

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Availability of Business Registers by subregion and income category

7

19

8

3

6

12

5

8

7

13

4

7

5

9

2

1

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Low-income

Middle-income

High-income

SSWA

SEA

Pacific

ENEA

NCA

BR available BR not available/No info

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Committee on Statistic, 2009• At 1st session, in February 2009• Adopted a coordinating governance structure to

guide the development, implementation and monitoring of an action plan (Regional Programme) for the development of economic statistics in the Asian and Pacific region

• Established a technical advisory group to provide guidance to the Bureau and the ESCAP secretariat on the development and periodic revision of a regional programme for the development of economic statistics

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Approach to development of Programme

• Agree on a core set of economic statistics that each country in the region should be able to produce

• Assess countries’ capacity to produce economic statistics, and determine what main impediments to produce core set are– Initial assessment done; need for continuous (e.g.

annual) monitoring

• Identify what countries & agencies are doing / planning to do to overcome capacity constraints– Need for ongoing information sharing / collection

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Programme development approach (cont.)• Identify, for each country, what the remaining

gaps in capacity are• Determine, for and with each country, what

national priorities to fill the gaps are• Develop national work plans to address the

priorities by:– Integrating capacity building requirements for economic statistics

in National Strategies for the Development of Statistics– Mobilizing (advocating for the mobilization) of national and

internationally resources (funding)

• Implementing / monitoring the work plans

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Work completed during 2009• Establishment and meetings of Technical Advisory

Group (TAG):– Experts from AFG, AUS, IND, KAZ, MNG, NZL, ADB,

ASEAN Secr., ECO Secr., Eurostat, FAO, IMF, SPC

– Met in Sep and Dec 2009 + intensive email & phone communication

– Proposed Core Set of Economic Statistics

• Assessment of NSS’s capacity to produce economic statistics– Development of framework

– Desk research

– Country validation / gap filling

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Work completed during 2009(cont.)• Expert Group Meeting (17-18 September 2009)

– To discuss need for Regional Programme, how to go about developing it, and issues to be covered

• Workshop to Develop a Regional Programme (9-11 December 2009 )

– to discuss and formulate recommendations on the proposed Regional Programme:• a minimum core set of economic statistics that each country

in the region should be able to produce• the key elements, deliverables and timelines of the Regional

Programme• the implementation and periodic review of the Regional

Programme.

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Focus of the Programme

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Aim of the Regional Programme• The primary aim of the programme is to develop

the capacity of ESCAP Members and Associate Members to produce a core set of economic statistics by 2020 of appropriate quality required for short and long term economic analyses and decision making by both government and non-government agencies / organisations.

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Target areas• develop selected core human skills required to collect,

compile, analyse and disseminate economic statistics of appropriate and known quality

• improve the capacity of countries to develop, implement and maintain key statistical infrastructures - quality assessment framework; metadata repositories; business register; area frame for household surveys

• improve methodological transparency through national compilation and dissemination of appropriate methodological information (metadata)

• enhance the long-term sustainability of the national statistical system through improvements in statistical advocacy within the country

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Delivery of the Programme• The delivery of most aspects of the programme will be

via the work programmes of NSOs as well as global, regional and sub-regional bodies funding and providing technical assistance and other initiatives across the region

• All players active in the region will need to sign on to the programme, be willing to share information on their activities, and if necessary modify the nature of the training or technical assistance and/or the timing of what they planned to deliver

• ESCAP Committee on Statistics will provide a key forum for discussion and decisions on Regional Programme

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Relationship of the Core Set to the Regional Programme• Purpose of the programme is to develop the

capacity to produce a range of economic statistics, ie remove the constraints preventing their production.

• The core set fulfils two roles:– Determines the scope of the programme.– Provides guidance on the minimum set of economic

statistics to be produced.

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Core Set of Economic Statistics

• A minimum set of statistics needed to monitor the economy and material wellbeing.

• Includes both primary and derived statistics.• Flexibility in the type of statistic and its characteristics (other

than frequency) within some statistical categories.• Applies to all member countries in principle.• In practice, some statistics may not be relevant given the nature

of the economy of the member country – but that country will have the capability to produce the core set.

• Not a set of surveys ...but source data needs and best practice imply the need for certain types of surveys.

• Not a list of source data needed to compile SNA……but..

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Core Set of Economic Statistics

• …..the statistics are compiled within the SNA and related frameworks.

• …..the statistics are key … so it can be expected that they will also provide most of the source data needed to compile the national accounts.

• …the Regional Programme delivers capability. The outcome should be country capability to produce national accounts including obtaining source data that may not be explicitly listed in the core set.

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Domains of economic statistics included in the core set

– Prices and costs– Demand and output– Income and wealth– Money and banking – Government– Labour market– Natural assets and the environment

– Within each of the above domains, the Core Set consists of key statistics, each of which is described by its frequency and relevant international standard and/or guideline

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Core Set of Economic Statistics

Infrastructure:

(frameworks, standards, classifications, registers )

Input data Processing Output statistics

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Next steps• The Core Set and the Regional Programme will be

finalized during the 1st half of 2010• The finalized versions of the Regional Programme and the

core set will be submitted for the consideration and endorsement of the Committee on Statistics during its second session, scheduled to take place in December 2010

• Given the need for strengthening national statistical systems (NSSs) in Asia and the Pacific through actively advocating for increased commitment from policymakers, particularly in government, both of these documents will be subsequently submitted to the ESCAP Commission.

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Implementation of 2008 SNA and ISIC Rev.4 – ESCAP RegionCountry Plans for

implementation of 2008 SNA

If yes, when do you plan to implement SNA2008

Plans for implementation of ISIC Rev4

If yes, when do you plan to implement ISIC Rev4

Armenia Y 2011-2012 Y 2010

Australia Y 2009Y 2009

Bhutan Y 5years time

Fiji Y 2009, GDP released. Working on all other national accounts tables eg up to lending, integrated accounts etc

Y

Hong Kong, China Y around 2012 Y 2011

India Y 2015Y 2015

Indonesia Y 2014

Iran (Islamic Republic of) N Y 2011

Japan Y 2015N

Republic of Korea Y 2014

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Implementation of 2008 SNA and ISIC Rev.4 – ESCAP RegionCountry Plans for

implementation of 2008 SNA

If yes, when do you plan to implement SNA2008

Plans for implementation of ISIC Rev4

If yes, when do you plan to implement ISIC Rev4

Macao, China Y 2010Y 2011

Malaysia Y 2014Y 2014

Maldives Y

Mongolia Y 2015Y 2010

New Zealand N Y 2011

Samoa Y 2010Y 2009/10

Singapore Y SNA2008 will be implemented progressively.

Y Implemented ISIC Rev4 (draft) in 2007. Implementing ISIC Rev 4 in 2011-12.

Thailand N Y 201X

Tonga Y N

Viet Nam Y 2011Y 2007

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References and useful linksReferences and useful linksCommittee on Statistics, First session • http://www.unescap.org/stat/cst/1/index.aspTowards an action plan for the development of economic statistics in theAsian and Pacific region • http://www.unescap.org/stat/cst/1/CST1-5E.pdfAvailability and quality of short-term economic statistics in the Asian andthe Pacific Region• http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/workshops/2009/netherlands/AC202-S55.PDFExpert Group Meeting on the Development of Economic Statistics in theAsian and Pacific Region (17-18 September 2009, Bangkok)• http://www.unescap.org/stat/meet/egm2009/index.aspWorkshop to Develop a Regional Programme for the Improvement ofEconomic Statistics in Asia and the Pacific (9-11 December 2009,Bangkok)• http://www.unescap.org/stat/meet/econ-dec09/index.asp

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Regional advisory services Regional advisory services

The Statistics Division of ESCAP offers regional advisory services on statistics

Regional Adviser on Statisticsstat.unescap@un.org

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Questions?

Thank you