1. © 2008 by ESCAP 11 Regional programme for the improvement of economic statistics in Asia and the Pacific International Workshop on Measuring GDP by Final Demand Approach, Shenzhen, China, 25-27 April 2011 Presented by: Jillian Campbell, Statistician, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 1

2. © 2008 by ESCAP 2 Focus of the Programme

3. © 2008 by ESCAP Introduction to the programme The overall goal of the Programme is to improve the soundness of economic analysis and decision-making by governments, the private sector, the research community and the public through increased availability and effective use of timely, reliable and comparable economic statistics. The expected outcome of the Programme is that, by 2020, the national statistical systems of ESCAP member States should have the capacity to produce and disseminate a Core Set of Economic Statistics required The Core Set of Economic Statistics includes the compilation of annual and quarterly national accounts –The compilation of GDP by expenditure at a quarterly frequency is recommended in the core set framework 3

4. © 2008 by ESCAP Current Status of the Regional Programme An ESCAP wide assessment of the ability of countries to produce basic economic statistics was conducted in 2009-2010 In depth in-country assessments of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Lao People’s Democratic Republic were conducted in 2011 4

5. © 2008 by ESCAP System of National Accounts findings Only a third of ESCAP members in the region produced all seven of the tables that constitute the minimum requirement dataset established by the ISWGNA Forty-four members (79%) of the ESCAP members publish GDP by expenditure on an annual basis Less than half of members (23 members) publish quarterly GDP by expenditure estimates A third of members have not fully implemented the 1993 SNA. 5

6. © 2008 by ESCAP National Accounts Human Resources Seventy-two per cent of respondents described their staff resources as not adequate. –1 out of 6 (17 per cent) of high-income members described NA staff resources as not adequate –22 out of 28 (79 per cent) of middle income members described NA staff resources as not adequate –10 out of 12 (83 per cent) of low-income members described NA staff resources as not adequate. Staff working in NA ranged: 1 part-time staff in Cook Islands and 1 staff in Timor-Leste to 7 in Armenia, 16 in Afghanistan to 53 in India to 120 in Indonesia and 121 in Bangladesh 6

7. © 2008 by ESCAP Some obstacles identified through in- country assessments IT: Internet access, software, hardware and ICT support Coordination/communication with data providers, local offices, other government agencies –This includes duplication of work, a system for data sharing and resolution of discrepancies Metadata and documentation Statistical training Quality assessment Source data Business registers 7

8. © 2008 by ESCAP Next steps 1.Endorsement of the Core Set as regional guideline: To secure government commitment to the Core Set so it will have the necessary political and financial support 2.Strengthening of statistical advocacy: To increase understanding of the importance of investing in the improvement of national capacity to produce the Core Set 3.Development of human resource skills: To improve the skills of NSSs staff in areas that are essential for producing economic statistics 4.Improvement of statistical infrastructure: To improve the capacity of NSSs to develop, implement and maintain national statistical infrastructures, including quality assessment frameworks, metadata repositories, business registers and statistical data editing techniques 8

9. © 2008 by ESCAP Next steps continued 5.Improvement in coordination: To increase the consistency and coherence of national statistical capacity building programmes and maximize the effectiveness of the available resources, through improved coordination of statistical development activities, both within NSSs and among development partners. 6.Progress monitoring and programme review 7.Knowledge sharing and South-South cooperation: To promote the effective sharing of knowledge, experience and technical know how and to facilitate South-South Cooperation for improving national capacity to produce the Core Set among NSSs in the ESCAP region.. 9

10. © 2008 by ESCAP 10 Questions? Thank you