Assisting African countries to
improve compilation of basic
economic statistics:
an outline of the UNSD strategy
Vladimir Markhonko
United Nations Statistics Division
With adoption of the SNA93, Rev.1 and
the revised versions of ISIC and CPC
UNSD plans to focus more on practical
issues relevant to compilation of basic
economic statistics including provision of
assistance to countries in building up their
capability to compile quality basic statistics
in the most cost effective way
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 The UNSD work programme on basic economic statistics includes
such elements as:
 Revision of international recommendations on basic economic statistics
– in 2007/2008 recommendations on Industrial Statistics and
Distributive Trade Statistics are to be revised and adopted by the UN
Statistical Commission
 UNSD will prepare various Compilers manuals and other supportive
publications including Handbooks on Good Practices in Economic
Census, Statistical Business Register, Use of Administrative Data in
Economic Statistics
 Documenting national practices on various sectoral economic statistics
and development of the UNSD knowledge platform to assist country
compilers in finding necessary information in the most convenient way
 UNSD believes that this focus on basic economic statistics will bring
long-term benefits and will support the progressive implementation
of the System of National Accounts with increasing scope and
coverage of accounts and tables
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What is basic economic statistics?
• Broad and narrow approaches to the
scope of basic economic statistics
• Scope of basic economic statistics for the
purposes of UNSD assistance programme
• Your views are very important for us
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What is basic economic statistics?
Criteria for inclusion:
Statistics reflecting market activities of any
economic entity
The most detailed statistics collected from
the source
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What is not in the scope of basic
economic statistics?
Criteria for exclusion:
 Statistics about non-market activities
 Statistics about entities in public administration
and defense (section L of ISIC)
 Derived macroeconomic statistics as presented
in national accounts
 Certain specialized statistics such as
government finance statistics
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For the purpose of this workshop the
scope of basic economic statistics
INCLUDES market activities of entities classified in ISIC sections:
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

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C – mining and quarrying;
D – manufacturing;
E – electricity, gas and water supply;
F – construction;
G – distributive trade (wholesale and retail);
H – hotels and restaurants;
I – transport, storage and communications;
J – financial intermediation;
K – real estate, renting;
N – health and social work;
O – other community, social and personal services.
 Activities of section A (agriculture, hunting, forestry) and B (fishing) only
to the extent covered by profit and loss statements and balance sheets.
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Long term perspective and current
activities to assist African countries
 Long term perspective
Principles of strong national ownership and agreed
indicators of performance
 The strategic goal of this assistance is to significantly
enhance availability and quality of basic economic
statistics which are:
 Relevant for macroeconomic and sectoral policy making and
management
 Provides a solid foundation for National Accounts
 Meets data requirements of business community
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Current activities
• Review and assessment of African country
practices in basic economic statistics in
order to identify issues which need to be
addressed, establish priorities and to
formulate an action plan
• UNSD will cooperate with ECA to build up
on already available information and
assessments
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How UNSD can help?
Participate in assessing needs and
establishing priorities
Run several regional workshops on
various relevant topics
Prepare customized training materials
Alert other international organizations and
involve them in the assistance programme
Facilitate ‘inside region’ training
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 Major areas for review and assessment:
• Relevance of statistics in terms of how the
disseminated data meet policy needs and other
user requirements
• Adequacy of applied statistical frameworks in the
light of international standards/recommendations
• Effectiveness of existing statistical infrastructure
and statistical procedures in terms of cost
efficiency
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To ensure active country involvement in
the assessment process UNSD will
conduct in 2007 two regional workshops:
• The first workshop (in cooperation with
Statistics South Africa) will be held in
South Africa on 23-26 July 2007
• The second workshop (in cooperation with
ECA) will be held in Addis Ababa on 16-19
October 2007
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Objectives of the first workshop
 This workshop comprises a rather limited group of
countries with a mix of various experiences
 It will provide a forum for an exchange of views on the
existing practices of selected countries and formulate an
initial set of recommendations regarding further actions
 The findings and conclusions of the first workshop will be
used to set an agenda of the second and larger
workshop to be held at ECA Headquarters. The main
purpose of the second workshop will be to identify a list
of key issues which need to be addressed, advise on
priorities and to formulate a set of recommendations
regarding further actions
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Related UNSD 2007 outputs
A technical report on practices of African
countries in basic economic statistics
including in economic census and
economic surveys
Action plan on improvement of basic
economic statistics in Africa
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Thank you for attention
Wish that all of us have a
successful workshop and
enjoy South Africa!
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