South Asian Countries Compliance
with the
UN-NAQ Questionnaire
Workshop on National Accounts
6-9 July 2009, New Delhi, India
Gulab Singh
UN Statistics Division
1
Introduction.
 UN National Accounts Questionnaire
 Scope of national accounts statistics
reported to the UNSD.
 Scope of 1993 SNA implementation.

 At the request of the UN Statistical Commission
(UNSC) the UNSD
 Collects National Accounts data from Member States
 regularly evaluates the conceptual compliance of official
NA data with the recommendations of the 1993 SNA
 The data is collected annually through the National
Accounts Questionnaire (UN-NAQ)
 Collected from individual country and/or regional
organizations like United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE); OECD; or through
the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM)
 Many countries are not able to submit the minimum
requirement data set (as defined by the UNSC) to the
UNSD.

Table 1.1 GDP by expenditures at current prices

Table 1.2 GDP by expenditures at constant prices

Table 1.3 Relations among product, income, savings, and net lending aggregates

Table 2.1 Value added by industries at current prices

Table 2.2 Value added by industries at constant prices

Table 2.3 Output, gross value added, and fixed assets by industries at current
prices

Table 3.1 Government final consumption expenditure by function at current prices

Table 3.2 Individual consumption expenditure of households, NPISHs, and general
government at current prices

Table 4.1 Total Economy – Sequence of accounts

Table 4.2 Rest of the world
Minimum required data set (MRDS)
MRDS Tables 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1 or 1.3 and 4.2

SAARC Member States and Afghanistan report
their national accounts data directly to the
UNSD through the UN-NAQ




The scope of national accounts data reported to the
UNSD is evaluated against a standard “minimum
requirement data set” (MRDS), and against the
“milestone” achieved
A set of MRDS required for meaningful policy decision
making, was adopted by the UNSC at its 32nd
session in 2001 .
The UNSC at its 29th session in 1997 defined
statistical implementation “milestones”.
Milestone and compliance with the identified
indicators - both evaluate the scope of 1993 SNA
implementation
Figure 1: Frequency of Reporting
Number of Countries that Replied to the UN-NAQ
All Countries
UN Member States
Developed regions
Developing regions
ESCAP
SAARC Countries
Total
Number
of
Countries
224
192
49
163
49
8
At least
once
At least
between
once
2003-2007
209 (93%)
183 (82%)
189 (98%)
169 (88%)
45 (92%)
45 (92%)
152 (93%)
126 (77%)
48 (98%)
45 (92%)
8 (100%)
8 (100%)
2006 NAQ
144 (64%)
135 (70%)
44 (90%)
90 (55%)
32 (65%)
7 (88%)
2007 NAQ
158 (71%)
147 (77%)
43 (88%)
105 (64%)
37 (76%)
8 (100%)
Elements affecting the level of GDP
Gross capital formation (GCF)/output











Is government defence expenditure on fixed assets that can be used for civilian purposes included in GCF?
Is consumption of fixed capital included on all government fixed assets (roads, dams and breakwaters and
other forms of construction except structures)?
Is all mineral exploration (successful and unsuccessful) capitalized?
Is expenditure on computer software purchases included in GCF and on software development included in
output?
Is expenditure on entertainment, literary or artistic originals included in GCF and on their development
included in output?
Is expenditure on valuables included in GCF?
1993 SNA extends the production boundary of households to include all goods produced by households
for own consumption:: are these goods included in output?
Is the natural growth of cultivated forests included in GCF?
Volume estimates
Are volumes estimated using a chaining procedure with annually changing weights?
Social contributions/insurance
Are unfunded social contributions (for sickness, unemployment, retirement etc.) by enterprises imputed as
compensation of employees and included as contributions to private employer initiated social insurance
schemes?
Rather than be based just on premiums less claims, do non-life insurance estimates include premium
supplements?
Elements affecting GNI


Are reinvested earnings estimates included in the rest of the world account?
Are foreign workers’ remittances excluded?
Elements not affecting the level of GDP/GNI

Final consumption

Is government final consumption expenditure broken down into individual and collective consumption?
Implementation milestones for the 1993 SNA
Phases of implementation
Pre-SNA phases
Phase 1. Basic indicators of GDP at Current and constant prices
Final expenditures on GDP
GDP by industry
Phase 2. GNI and other primary indicators
External account of primary incomes and current transfers
Capital and financial accounts for the rest of the world
Complementary data systems
-
Basic data (production etc.)
BOP goods and services
Monetary stock statistics
Price indices (consumer,
producer, wholesale)
-
Supply and Use worksheets
Other BOP transactions (income
transfers, capital and financial)
GFS transaction accounts
-
Capital stock statistics
BOP stock statistics (IIP)
GFS stock statistics
Monetary and other financial flow
statistics
SNA-related data and
development
- QNA
- Regional accounts
- Satellite accounts for environment
and other country priority
satellite accounts
- Input-output analysis
Phase 3. Institutional sector accounts: first steps
Production accounts for all institutional sectors
Generation of income
Allocation of primary income
Secondary distribution income
Use of income
Capital and financial accounts for general govt.
Same as for phase 2
Same as for phase 2
Phase 4. Institutional sector accounts: intermediate steps
Generation of income
Allocation of primary income
Secondary distribution of income
Use of income
Capital accounts for all institutional sectors other than government
Same as for phase 2
Same as for phase 2
Phase 5. Institutional sector accounts: last of the transaction accounts
Financial accounts for all institutional sectors other than general
government
Same as for phase 2
Same as for phase 2
Phase 6. Other flows, accounts and balance sheets
Other changes in assets accounts for all institutional sectors
Balance sheets
Same as for phase 2
Same as for phase 2
All Countries
UN Member States
Developed regions
Developing regions
ESCAP
SAARC
countries
Total
Number
of
Countries
224
192
49
163
49
8
Based on the data sent to UNSD.
Number of Countries that Implemented
the 1993 SNA
Prior to
2001
77 (34%)
76 (40%)
36 (73%)
29 (18%)
19 (39%)
2
(25%)
Prior to
2005
98 (44%)
91 (47%)
40 (82%)
46 (28%)
23 (47%)
4
(50%)
Prior to 2008
130
(58%)
121
(63%)
42
(86%)
76
(47%)
33
(67%)
8
(100%)
Of the SAARC countries:
- 2 implemented the
1993 SNA prior to 2001.
- 2 implemented the
1993 SNA between 2001
and 2005.
-4 implemented the
1993 SNA after 2001
Country
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Year of 1993 SNA
Implementation
2007
Pre 2001
2006
2006
Pre 2001
2007
2004
2001
Data
available
between
2003-2007
All Countries
UN Member States
Developed regions
Developing regions
ESCAP
SAARC Countries
Tables of the Minimum Requirement Data Set (MRDS)
Total
Number
1.1
1.2
2.1
2.2
2.3
1.3/4.1
224
168 (75%)
132 (59%) 171 (76%) 160 (71%) 123 (55%) 140 (63%)
192
154 (80%)
125 (65%) 158 (82%) 153 (80%) 113 (59%) 131 (68%)
49
44 (90%)
41 (84%) 44 (90%)
41 (84%) 41 (84%)
42 (86%)
163
113 (69%)
82 (50%) 115 (71%) 107 (66%) 74 (45%)
88 (54%)
49
36 (71%)
28 (57%) 39 (80%)
39 (80%)
21 (43%)
32 (65%)
8
8 (100%)
6 (75%)
7 (88%)
8 (100%)
4 (50%)
7 (88%)
Based on data submitted to UNSD.
92
86
35
48
19
3
4.2
(41%)
(45%)
(71%)
(29%)
(39%)
(38%)
MRDS
Data available
between 2003-2007
All Countries
UN Member States
Developed regions
Developing regions
ESCAP
SAARC
Total
Number
224
192
49
163
49
8
Six or more
tables
107 (48%)
102 (53%)
38 (78%)
60 (37%)
24 (49%)
5 (63%)
Based on data submitted to UNSD.
Seven
tables
79 (35%)
77 (40%)
32 (65%)
39 (24%)
14 (29%)
2 (25%)
Milestone Level
1 or higher
165
(74%)
152
(79%)
43
(88%)
111
(68%)
36
(73%)
8 (100%)
138
129
41
87
32
7
2
(62%)
(67%)
(84%)
(53%)
(65%)
(88%)



Availability of NA data from the South Asian
countries has increased in the past.
There are 4 countries that have implemented
the 1993 SNA in the last 3 years.
Hopefully we can work together to improve
the implementation of international standards
to national accounts of the South Asian
countries.
Thank You