Colombia´s Country practice for the
implementation of 2008 SNA
Ana Victoria Vega A.
Technical Director, National Accounts and Synthetic Statistics Division
National Administrative Department of Statistics – DANE
avvega@dane.gov.co
Colombia
May, 2013
Colombia´s experience in the
compilation of National Accounts
Historical developments
Before
1970
• Colombia´s Central Bank (Banco de la Republica - BR) was in charge of the compilation
of the official National Income Accounts
In 1970
• In 1970, with a law assigning new responsibilities to Colombia’s Statistical Office
(DANE), it was agreed that DANE would compile the official national accounts adopting
SNA 1968´s recommendations; while setting up the system, the official data would be
the BR’s figures
• BR would compile the financial accounts, consistent with DANE´s “real” accounts.
France provided the required technical assistance.
In 1983
• National Accounts compiled by DANE were finally approved as Colombia´s official
national accounts . At that time, the new series that was adopted covered the 1970-1981
period, the financial accounts being compiled by BR. The price base was 1975 and the
evaluation base year 1970.
Colombia´s experience in the
compilation of National Accounts
Historical developments
Since under DANE´s responsibility, 4 bases have been compiled:
1975
• Covering 1970 - 1995
1994
• Covering 1990 - 2005
2000
• Covering 2000 - 2007
2005
• Covering 2000 – 2012pr
In 2013, preliminary exploratory works for a new 2015 base
have been initiated.
Colombia´s experience in the
compilation of National Accounts
The scope of National Accounts
• Since DANE took up the responsibility of the compilation of National Accounts, the National
Accounts covered not only complete goods and services commodity flow accounts, including
supply and use tables, at current and constant prices, but also complete sectoral accounts,
including financial accounts (under BR´s responsibility).
The situation
today
Availability of
information
• Commodity flow balances at current and previous year’s constant prices in 369 products;
• Production accounts and supply and use tables at current and previous year´s constant prices
in 369 products and 61 industries;
• FISIM is distributed among activities and as HFCE or IC
• Complete sectoral transaction accounts including financial accounts
• Preliminary version (quarterly accounts)
• Provisional version:
• Final version:
March n (n-1)
March n (n-2)
March n (n-3)
Colombia´s experience in the
compilation of National Accounts
Additionally, we compile or are in
the process of compiling….
• Quarterly National Accounts ( since 1994 - 1st quarter 2013 to be
released end of June 2013)
• Regional Accounts (by Departments)
• Back-casted series of Accounts (consistent series 1970-2011)
• Satellite Accounts (in collaboration with Ministries…)
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Environmental Accounts
Tourism Satellite Accounts (2000-2005)
Culture Satellite Accounts (new series underway)
Health and Social insurance in Health Accounts (new series underway)
Pension Satellite Accounts (underway)
Satellite Accounts for the agroindustry
Satellite Accounts for Household non-paid Work (underway)
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Main national policy challenges and implications for the scope and detail of
the accounts and supporting statistics
• The measurement of the mining activity and of the reserve of ores minerals (part
of non financial balance sheet…), making a difference between modern and
traditional and small scale mining: compilation of complete production and
institutional accounts;
• The effects of mining activity on the environment (environment accounts);
• The analysis and description of the financial activity, in particular that developed
by non traditional actors (fund managers, ..): typology, detailed integrated real
and financial accounts;
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Main national policy challenges and implications for the scope and detail of
the accounts and supporting statistics
• Within the accounts of financial and non financial companies, to separate and
compare those foreign controlled (and relate with FATS statistics…);
identification of transactions belonging to international trade in service
• Pension systems and pensions entitlements, including those (memo item)
corresponding to social security funds;
• Employment and its productivity according to industry and forms of production
(size, and forms of organization of the productive activity ) (PIPE policy..)
• Investment in civil works,
• Consumption of fixed capital by activity and sector: calculation of NVA and NOS
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Requirements to improve the
scope, detail and quality of NA
1. Mining and its effects on the environment
• To open the classifications of NA products and activities to identify products
and activities
• To develop registers of enterprises and establishments mostly in the case of
small informal activities
• To develop the conceptual framework to study at the same time the different
dimensions: products, activities, and institutional units, as well as FATS,
capital stock and the environmental dimension
• Find or generate the associated information (anual, as well as monthly and
quarterly indicators)
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Requirements to improve the
scope, detail and quality of NA
2. Financial domain
• To state clearly the actual treatments and identify their limitations as
compared with the recommendations included in 2008 SNA
• To review with the Superintendency of Finance and the Central Bank the
implication of the application of the new recommendations
•
To define how to operationalize a greater integration of the real and financial
analysis (DANE compiles the «real» accounts, the CB compiles the
«financial» accounts)
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Requirements to improve the
scope, detail and quality of NA
3. Foreign controlled companies and FATS
• To collaborate with producers of foreign trade statistics on FATS
• To collaborate within DANE and CB to identify foreign controlled companies
• To study the information already available as administrative records
• To generate a questionnaire to collect the missing information
• To generate a pressure to convert this topic as a current topic within the
statistical system
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Requirements to improve the
scope, detail and quality of NA
4. The pension system and estimation of pensions entitlements
• To participate actively in the interinstitutional platform reviewing public finance
statistics and their consistency among entities;
• To improve the institutional analysis and gain total coordination in the case of
pensions which payments falls enterily under the government’s responsibility
• Calculation of pensions entitlements, even in the case of social security (promemoria item)
• To anticipate the effects of the reform of the pension system in course
• Treatment of specific types of transactions and funds associated with pensions
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Requirements to improve the
scope, detail and quality of NA
5. Employment and productivity of labor
• To reinforce tasks already performed with the employment matrix to answer
questions on labor productivity and its costs
• To breakdown activities according to forms of production and size of business
• Improve the Business Registers and coverage of structural statistics
• Improve the LFS to obtain consistent information overtime of its distribution by
activities and change
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Requirements to improve the
scope, detail and quality of NA
6. Civil works and investment in infrastructure
• To review the incidence of the mode of contracting whith entrepreneurs and the
intruments used for the follow-up of the works with the reporting units
• To improve the present quarterly indicator in order to align it with the annual
one
7. Fixed capital consumption by activities and institutional sector to
improve the meaning of Value Added and Operating Surplus
• Presently, FCC is only calculated for Government, and globally
• Use the historical series of information on GFCF to generate a calculation
of FCC
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Main statistical actions organized by priorities for
gradual and phased implementation of 2008 SNA
• As explained, Colombia is well advanced in the implementation of basic
National Accounts recommendations;
• In DANE, DSCN does not have much influence on the statistical priorities of the
whole statistical system as NA are considered as one statistical operation
among others;
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Main statistical actions organized by priorities for
gradual and phased implementation of 2008 SNA
The actions that have been taken to date:
• Revision of products and activities classifications and proposal for a totally
consistent system with international classifications;
• Advance in the identification and treatment of auxiliary units;
• Proposal for a new method for the compilation of Production and Supply and
use tables at current and constant prices; update of technical coefficients;
• Analysis of the social insurance system;
• The study of the implications of the new recommendations, their viability and
definition of priorities
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Required support for the
implementation of the SNA
Conceptual support on the topics previously mentioned under
the form of:
• Documentation
• Technical assistance on specific issues (the financial topic, civil
works, balance accounts and CCF), and general review of the
work done
Colombia’s NA compilation
practice
Required support for the
implementation of the SNA
Policy support:
• That NA requirements should be given more attention in the Statistical
System:
 Coverage of structural statistics (presently, only big enterprises are
included); review of scope of surveys on services
 Conceptual and operative coordination with other statistical operations
(classifications, Business Registers)
 Comparability overtime of periodic observations
 Consistency among instruments (structural statistics,
microestablishments, LFS including informal employment)
Colombia´s Country practice for the
implementation of 2008 SNA
Ana Victoria Vega A.
Technical Director, National Accounts and Synthetic Statistics Division
National Administrative Department of Statistics – DANE
avvega@dane.gov.co
Colombia
May, 2013