1 Overview of Economic Statistics in Africa UNECA Andry Andriantseheno Regional Workshop on Basic Economic Statistics Addis-Ababa October 2007

2 Outline of the presentation 1.Conceptual methodology and compliance with SNA 2.National accounts tables compiled 3.Processing of data sources into national accounts 4.Types of economic censuses and surveys 5.Coverage of surveys and censuses 6.Sampling frame and extrapolation methods 7.Methods of enumeration and data collection 8.Administrative data 9.Institutional issues 10.recommendations 1. Conclusion

3 Conceptual compliance  In the bulk of African, the national accounts compiled are largely based on the 1968 SNA, and on the 1993 SNA for 40% of countries.  The concept of the 1993 SNA is not fully applied to conduct surveys and censuses  The SNA concept are formation of capital, while surveys use the concept of investment  Survey results could not be extrapolated to national economy due to inadequate sampling frame and differential of concept between SNA and the concept used in the surveys.

4 Tables of National Accounts compiled  The bulk of African countries are at the milestone 0 or milestone 1 of the implementation of the 1993 SNA  Milestone 0: development of basic data for SNA, including market prices, producers prices, surveys and censuses.  Milestone 1: breakdown of the GDP by expenditure and by industry at current and constant prices  Less than dozen of countries are compiling the set of accounts beyond the production account, quarterly national accounts and financial accounts

5 Processing of data sources into SNA Two level of difficulties: (1) availability and quality of data sources and (2) the processing of data sources into national accounts:  Several data gaps, including update of business registers, informal sector, employment, and services sectors as the Non Profit Institutions (NPIs)  Processing of data sources into national accounts is a very challenging tasks for the National Statistical Offices.  Lack of coordination at the Statistical Offices between the various collection or processing unit and the national accounts program  The Statistical offices have other duties such as population censuses, prices, trade statistics and household surveys.  Inadequate human ( less than 5 professional working on SNA) and financial resources to process available data sources into SNA, to develop bridge tables and interfaces between the survey/censuses and national account.

6 Types of economic censuses and surveys The censuses and surveys conducted are:  Population and housing censuses, every 10 or 20 years  Various household surveys, every 3 to 5 years  Industrial surveys, every 2-5 years  Agricultural censuses and surveys, 3-10 years  Collection of financial statements from companies, annually for the compilation of accounts.  Labor force surveys and Informal sector surveys Absence of clear definition of an economic censuses and surveys

7 Economic coverage of censuses and surveys The following sectors, mostly services sectors are less covered by surveys or administrative data sources, this depends on countries The following sectors, mostly services sectors are less covered by surveys or administrative data sources, this depends on countries  Construction and housing  Wholesale and retail trade  Hotel and restaurants  Transports  Community services, sports and non profit institutions  Labor force and Informal sector

8 Sampling frame and Business Register  Business register, part of the process of creation of companies, the units may be the establishment or the enterprises  Information on activity, owners and type of business respondents  The business register is out of date as companies may not be in activity  Update of business register is expensive, but critical for sampling and extend the result of surveys to the national economy  Different identity number at the statistical offices, social security, VAT…

9 Methods of Enumeration and Data collection  Interview and personal visit  Interview and mail: questionnaire are sent by mail and received by respondents  Collection of financial statement by mail: the Statistical office request for financial statements from companies, or one of the recipients of financial statements

10 Administrative Records  Financial statement: special arrangements between statistics, tax revenue and central banks  The customs declaration are complemented with surveys on specific commodities such as fuel data for the compilation of international merchandise trade statistics (IMTS)  Administrative records at line ministries, address the concern over the qualities of administrative records, with supplementary surveys

11 Institutional Issues  Level of collaboration between statistics, central banks and tax revenue over the sharing of financial statement.  Level of collaboration between statistics, central banks and customs department over the sharing of financial statement.  In most cases, surveys and censuses are conducted by the Statistical offices, (a) centralized, the field offices are just collecting or (b) decentralized, the field offices collect, process the data and send the result to the HQ  Censuses and surveys may be conducted by other entities within the the national statistical systems, for example the agricultural or industrial censuses are undertaken by the ministry of agriculture, often, the methodology is inadequate and there is a lack of collaboration with the statistical office.

12Challenges  Financial resources and human resources,  High staff turnover  Low response rate: households and companies are reluctant to respond to surveys and censuses

13 Recommendations  Establish an integrated national system (INS) for the data collection on companies, in collaboration with central banks, tax revenue and line ministries, the INS contains financial statements, labor forces and other information, this will avoid the duplication of efforts such as collect of financial statement and industrial surveys.  Update of the business register through cross checking with tax registration, social security, the population censuses(for formal companies owned by household), and ultimately censuses enumeration of enterprises and production units  Include an informal sector module in the existing household surveys or labour force surveys

14 Recommendations  Ensure that the SNA concept are used in the surveys and censuses through involvement of national accountants at the various stages of statistical operations.  Adequate staffing of national accountants at the National Statistical Offices (NSOs), over twenty professionals is highly indicated.  Staff retention policies and intensive trainings

15 Thank You