WORKING PARTY ON NATIONAL ACCOUNTS Paris, October 2008 The situation of QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS data transmission to the OECD Document STD/CSTAT/WPNA(2008)23 Jiemin GUO

The OECD QNA database (1) Characteristics  Full scope of QNA data produced by National Statistical Offices  Accuracy and timeliness  Comparability: PPPs, SA, OECD reference year Content  Set of tables of the OECD/Eurostat SNA93/ESA95 questionnaire  Other series not covered by the questionnaire

The OECD QNA database (2) Quarterly release:  Paper and electronic publications, CD-ROM (Q+120 days)  News release on GDP volume growth for the OECD area (Q+50 days) Monthly updates  Electronic publication Daily updates  Release in OECD.Stat:  Data from the standard questionnaire  Zones aggregates  Volume/price indices  Growth rates for GDP in volume

Data transmission to the OECD All countries announce on Internet, in advance, the release day of their QNA. OECD database is updated  within 24 hour of the release for Major Seven countries  within 48 hour for other countries. OECD plans to provide a release calendar of QNA dates to external users (see Annex I of document STD/CSTAT/WPNA(2008)23)

Country updates on two SNA Methodological Issues Chain volume estimates  28 of 30 OECD member countries adopted  Korea: 2009 ; Mexico: 2011 FISIM Allocation  26 of 30 OECD member countries allocated  except Japan, Mexico, New Zealand & Turkey. Turkey adopted ESA95/SNA 93 in March 2008.

New ESA95 questionnaire  Transmission started in December 2007  Most European countries transmit QNA to the OECD and Eurostat  except Greece, Switzerland and Turkey For Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)  New classification by asset vs. old classification by product  Explicit category for Intangible fixed assets  Only few countries (Denmark, Italy, Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom) submitted data with proper adjustment comparability issue

Five accession countries: Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia & Slovenia. Data collection:  Chile, Israel & Russia: requested to fill out and submit the standard questionnaire.  Estonia & Slovenia: regular data submission to Eurostat, which are transmitted to OECD automatically. Data process:  Updating data for Estonia, Israel & Slovenia in the OECD QNA database.  Processing for Chile and Russia QNA integration under way. Data Collection for New accession countries

OECD general requests for cooperation by member countries TIMELINESS : data transmission to OECD as soon as they are available on the day of release. METADATA : providing brief note appended to the data transmission to signal any important change.

Missing important QNA data from NSOs Missing seasonal adjusted data:  Iceland and Sweden: current price estimates  Turkey current price and (especially) volume estimates data? Greece  Missing breakdown of GCF, with details of investment and changes in inventories  Additional request: fill out the standard ESA95 questionnaire (as is done for Annual transmission)

Missing important QNA data from NSOs (2) Missing quarterly employment data  Iceland, Poland, Switzerland and Turkey Eurostat request employment data based on persons  Austria – based on jobs

QNA Plan for next year Updating OECD manual on ‘QNA sources and methods’ Sending the OECD QNA questionnaire to non-European countries Participating in NAWWE project Providing a QNA dissemination calendar of OECD member countries to users

Questions to delegates Any information from delegates on the points addressed in the preceding slides? Could delegates concerned confirm or precise the planned dates for Chain volume estimates and FISIM allocation (see Table 3) ? Planned NAWWE implementation : possibility of using the standard questionnaire for non-European data transmission? Update of the OECD manual on ‘QNA Sources and Methods’: OECD seeks close collaboration with its member countries. Any progress on the dissemination of QSA and especially seasonally adjusted data ?

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