Developing a regional action plan
for the improvement of economic
statistics in Asia and the Pacific
Artur Andrysiak
Statistics Development and Analysis Section
ESCAP
E-mail: andrysiak@un.org
1
© 2008 by ESCAP
Overview
• Background
• Current situation
• ESCAP initiative
– Technical Advisory Group
– Assessment
2
© 2008 by ESCAP
Background
• 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
3
© 2008 by ESCAP
Background
• The current global economic crisis further
highlighting the need for high quality and
comparable financial and economic statistics
• Adoption by United Nations Statistical
Commission of volumes 1 and 2 of the System of
National Accounts 2008
• The release of the SNA 2008 and other economic
frameworks and standards presents an
opportunity to focus again on economic statistics
4
© 2008 by ESCAP
Current situation
• Many Asian and Pacific countries are still not in a
position to comply with the minimum requirement
of the 1993 SNA
• < 1/3 of countries produce all 7 tables of the
minimum requirement dataset (MRDS) and < ½
produce 6 tables
• Proportions are lower for low-income countries,
South-East Asia, Pacific
• This compares unfavourably with the situation in
Latin America and the Caribbean
5
© 2008 by ESCAP
6
© 2008 by ESCAP
Committee on Statistics, 2009
The Committee on Statistics at its first session considered the
proposal contained in the document “Towards an action plan for the
development of economic statistics in the Asian and Pacific region”.
Consequently, the Committee on Statistics decided to:
(a) Adopt a coordinating governance structure that shall guide the
development, implementation and monitoring of an action plan for the
development of economic statistics in the Asian and Pacific region, as
proposed in E/ESCAP/CST/5, para. 52;
(b) Establish a technical advisory group to provide guidance to its
Bureau and the ESCAP secretariat on the development and periodic
revision of a regional programme for the development of economic
statistics……
7
© 2008 by ESCAP
ESCAP initiative
Development of the regional action plan for
improving economic statistics, which aims to
increase the national capacity, particularly among
the least developed countries and small island
developing states, to produce basic economic
statistics in accordance with international
standards and good practices
8
© 2008 by ESCAP
Project details
• Developing a regional action plan for the
improvement of economic statistics in Asia and
the Pacific
• Until the end of 2009
• SD and SIAP in cooperation with other IO
9
© 2008 by ESCAP
Strategy
• Conduct a comprehensive region-wide assessment of the capacity of
national statistical systems to produce basic economic statistics and
needs for support in this regard;
• Formulate a minimum core set of economic statistics that each
country in the region would be in a position to produce, taking into
account the varying needs of countries and work on the development
of economic statistics undertaken by specialized bodies and related
organizations in the region;
• On the basis of the assessment and minimum core set of statistics:
– Formulate a regional action plan for the improvement of economic
statistics in the region.
– Provide the specifications of regional requirements for manuals,
implementation guidelines and standardized training materials and
learning modes for the global implementation strategy of the 2008 SNA to
be designed by the ISWGNA
10
© 2008 by ESCAP
Main Activities
• Conduct a region-wide assessment of the capacity of
national statistical systems to produce basic economic
statistics and needs for support in this regard
• Establish a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to provide
guidance to the secretariat on methodological issues
related to the development and periodic revision of a
regional action plan for the development of economic
statistics
• Convene a consultation meeting of the TAG, members of
the Bureau of the Committee on Statistics and
representatives from selected regional and sub-regional
partners to formulate a minimum core set of economic
statistics that each country in the region would be in a
position to produce
11
© 2008 by ESCAP
Main Activities
• Organize — in close collaboration with SIAP — a
workshop for senior economic statisticians from national
statistical offices and other agencies involved in the
production of economic statistics, to review the
assessment of national capacities to produce basic
economic statistics and specific needs for support, as well
as the proposed minimum core set of economic statistics,
and to formulate the draft regional action plan for the
improvement of economic statistics
• Develop a knowledge-sharing website to disseminate
information on country assessments and other technical
materials
12
© 2008 by ESCAP
What we have achieved so far
13
Objective
Current status
Still to do
Project proposal
Completed, Funding
secured
_
Technical Advisory
Group
TORs approved by the
Bureau
Invitations to countries
on 14/07
Assessment of the
countries capacity
Ver. 1 of Assessment
Framework completed
Most data obtained
Assessment to be
completed by the end
of October
Establishing a network
with other IO
UNECE, UNSD, SIAP,
ADB, ECO
IMF, ASEAN, SPC,
WB, other
Raising awareness of
the initiative
ECO Countries
Other forums
Senior
consultant/advisor
TORs, P104a,
Possible candidates
identified
Employ asap
© 2008 by ESCAP
Plan for the rest of the year
• Develop a regional action plan for the improvement of
economic statistics in Asia and the Pacific
• Conduct a region-wide assessment by end of October
• Establish a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) by the end of
September
• Convene a consultation meeting of the TAG, members of the
Bureau and representatives from selected regional and subregional partners to formulate a minimum core set of economic
statistics
• Organize — in close collaboration with SIAP — a workshop for
senior economic statisticians from national statistical offices
• Develop a knowledge-sharing website to disseminate
information on country assessments and other technical
materials
14
© 2008 by ESCAP
Technical Advisory Group
• Provide guidance to its Bureau and the ESCAP secretariat
on methodological issues related to the development and
periodic revision of a regional programme (action plan) for
the development of economic statistics.
• Formulate a minimum core set of economic statistics that
each member and associate member in the Asian and
Pacific region would be in a position to produce, taking
into account the varying country needs and work on the
development of economic statistics undertaken by
specialized bodies and related organizations in the region.
15
© 2008 by ESCAP
Technical Advisory Group
Provide advice on:
• Developing an assessment framework of country capacities to
produce economic statistics;
• Conducting an assessment of country capacities to produce economic
statistics;
• Producing a report on the assessment of country capacities to
produce economic statistics;
• Identifying commonalities of issues related to the economic statistics
in the region and providing advice on the best strategy and measure
for addressing them, including technical cooperation;
• How to link up the ESCAP secretariat’s activities with the 2008 SNA
global implementation strategy;
• The possibility of an international manual on the minimum core set of
economic indicators.
16
© 2008 by ESCAP
Technical Advisory Group
• Made up of no more than 6 national experts as well as
experts from the ESCAP secretariat and other
international regional and subregional organizations.
• The final decision on the composition of the TAG will be
made by the ESCAP secretariat in consultation with the
Bureau.
• The Bureau is propositioning the following selection
criteria for national experts:
– Excellent knowledge of official statistics and national statistical
systems
– Extensive experience at the senior management level in the area
of economic statistics
– Good understanding of issues related to economic statistics in the
Asia and the Pacific region
– Ability to communicate well in English
17
© 2008 by ESCAP
Assessment
Objective:
• Produce a comprehensive assessment of the current state of
basic economic statistics in ESCAP region, identify problem
areas and specific needs.
Strategy:
• Complete the assessment by sourcing the information from other
international regional and subregional organizations and where
necessary, from national websites and other sources. National
organizations will only be contacted where it is not possible to
source the information from elsewhere.
• The preliminary results of the assessment for each country will
be sent to the relevant NSOs to give the countries the
opportunity to review and validate the results.
18
© 2008 by ESCAP
Assessment
The results of the assessment will be used to produce the
following outputs:
• Provide the basis for the development of a regional action
plan for the improvement of economic statistics in Asia
and the Pacific;
• Produce a report on the capacity of national statistical
systems in the ESCAP region to produce basic economic
statistics and needs for support in this regard;
• Provide the basis for the formulation of a minimum core
set of economic statistics that each country in the region
would be in a position to produce;
19
© 2008 by ESCAP
Assessment
The expected outcomes of the assessment are:
• Provide the Committee on Statistics, its Bureau, the secretariat and
other parties with a comprehensive assessment of the current state of
economic statistics in the ESCAP region;
• Develop a long-term strategy for an improvement of economic
statistics in the ESCAP region, including capacity building, as well as
addressing national statistical systems’ staff and resources constrains;
• Input to the global implementation strategy of the 2008 System of
National Accounts by Intersecretariat Working Group on National
Accounts;
• Raise the awareness among the statisticians and the policymakers of
the importance of economic statistics and the need for increased
funding for the national statistical systems.
• Permit countries to compare their economic statistics capacities with
other countries in the ESCAP region.
20
© 2008 by ESCAP
Assessment - progress
Milestones
Decide on scope, objective, strategy, etc
Identify data sources and partner organizations
Design the assessment framework
Test the assessment framework
External review of the framework
Creation of the database
Conduct the assessment
Present individual results to the countries
Produce an assessment report
Produce a preliminary action plan for improvement of
economic statistics
Present the findings of the assessment and the action
plan to the Senior Economic Statisticians
21
Deadline
End May 2009
Mid June 2009
Mid June 2009
End June 2009
Mid July 2009
End July 2009
End October 2009
End October 2009
Mid Nov 2009
Mid Dec 2009
Current Status
Completed
Completed
Completed: Version 1
Completed
In-progress
In-progress
Planned
Planned
Planned
Planned
Mid Dec 2009
Planned
© 2008 by ESCAP
Long-term objectives of the
Regional Action Plan
Need to address the fundamental constrains affecting the
development of economic statistics in the Asia and the
Pacific region:
– Lack of qualified staff
– Lack of available data sources
Theses constrains reflect:
• insufficient financial resources allocated to the collection and
compilation of basic economic statistics;
• defects in national legal and institutional frameworks that hamper
coordination among data source agencies; and
• the low priority accorded by decision makers to the availability of key
economic indicators
22
© 2008 by ESCAP
Success will depend
The success of the initiative will depend
on close collaboration with national
statistical offices and other agencies
involved in the production of economic
statistics; subregional partners such as
the ASEAN, SPC, ECO; regional partners
such as the ADB; and global partners
such as the UNSD, IMF, World Bank, and
ISWGNA.
23
© 2008 by ESCAP
References and useful links
Committee on Statistics, First session
• http://www.unescap.org/stat/cst/1/index.asp
Towards an action plan for the development of
economic statistics in the Asian and Pacific region
• http://www.unescap.org/stat/cst/1/CST1-5E.pdf
Documents for the fortieth session of the Statistical
Commission
• http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/sc2009.htm
24
© 2008 by ESCAP
Regional advisory services
The Statistics Division of ESCAP offers regional
advisory services on statistics
Mr. Jan Smit
Regional Adviser on Statistics
+66 2 288 1689
smit1@un.org
25
© 2008 by ESCAP
Suggestions?
Questions?
Thank you
26
© 2008 by ESCAP