1. RPES Project Support Meeting
Bangkok, Thailand
30 November 2016

2. RPES Facts
What?
Designed by countries and development partners in 2009
Endorsed by the Committee on Statistics in 2010, i.e. the heads of NSOs
Why?
Improved soundness of economic analysis and related decision-making through increased availability and effective use of timely, reliable and comparable economic statistics
Refer to brochure
How?
Strategic interventions: Advocacy, Coordination, Statistical infrastructure, Skills
In support of national priorities (Steering Group)
In partnership (regional, international organizations, peer-to-peer exchanges)

3. Core Set of Economic Statistics
Prices and costs
Consumer, producer, product price indices, labour cost, wages, exchange rates, PPPs, terms of trade
Demand & output
GDP (p/e), external trade, industrial structure statistics; short-term indicators (industry output/demand) and productivity
Income & wealth
NA for economy/by sector to measure income, savings, investment, wealth; BoP to measure international income and capital flows, IIP and external debt
Money & banking
Assets and liabilities of banking sector, monetary measures and interest rates
Just show this saying it defines the scope of the RPES – and refer to brochure
Core Set
indicative not prescriptive
judged to be the minimum set for effective economic analysis and monitoring
should be tailored to individual country needs
needs are determined by information requirements of Government and Non-Government decision makers
Description of the Core Set:
Domains
Key statistics within domains
Each key statistic is “core”
Flexibility for specific country needs
Characteristics
Frequency – SDDS,GDDS, ECB
Timeliness - SDDS can be used as a guide but this and other quality aspects covered in metadata that will accompany country specific series.
International standards / guidelines for each key statistic
SNA is an integrating framework for all these statistics.
Policy relevance of the Core Set components:
The conduct of monetary policy.
Establishing and monitoring the government's fiscal position.
Assessing the long-term capability of the economy, with a focus on sustainable growth.
Developing policies designed to achieve generally agreed economic goals, such as increased economic welfare and greater equity.
Measuring the economic, social and environmental impact of internal and external shocks.
Providing the information necessary for the efficient functioning of markets.
General monitoring and forecasting of the economy.
Informing economic, social and environmental analyses.
Meeting international obligations to provide information about the performance of the economy and the well-being of the nation. .
Government
Public revenue, expenditure, borrowing and lending, government accounts
Labour market
Labour supply & demand, LF characteristics, employment & unemployment, underemployment, hours worked, employment in informal & formal sector, job creation, vacancies
Natural resources & environment
Measures of sustainable economic growth, discovery/depletion and degradation of natural assets

4. Strategic priorities
NSS-wide assessments covering institutional, organizational and domain-specific issues
Improvement of the underlying data for main national accounts indicators and business statistics
Strengthening routine data production, the understanding of the statistics, and the quality of statistics
Strengthening training capacity
Coordination: NSO leadership! together with national agencies and development partners
Intervention strategies as decided by the Steering Group and included in the RPES implementation plan
NSS-wide assessments covering institutional, organizational and domain-specific issues (peer reviews)
Improvement of the underlying data for main national accounts indicators (including the SEEA) and business statistics (in-depth assessments, followed by studies for improvement)
Building of capability not only for routine data production but also for understanding the statistics and scrutinizing the quality of statistics (national research projects)
Strengthening training capacity (Materials, ToTs)
Coordination: Doing all of this under the NSO’s leadership together with all concerned national agencies and development partners

5. This project in numbers
2.5 Million USD (DFID)
9+ Project countries
5 have started
4 years (2015 – 2018)
The DFID-funded project aims at increased availability of high quality economic statistics and improved capacity of national statistical systems to produce quality economic statistics
Focuses on providing assistance in areas where Steering Group has expressed that external assistance will have greatest value-added

6. Focus project activities (for this meeting)
Peer reviews
Providing a baseline for system-wide statistics development and facilitate better coordination for the production of statistics, e.g. Maldives, Cambodia
In-depth assessments
Going further in depth on national priorities for improving economic statistics
Studies and research
Improving data collection or compilation methodology in specific areas
Technical assistance
The ones listed are the ones of particular relevance to our discussions today – there are other, regional level activities – including training capacity development – and not least the resource facility that we will hear much more about on Friday

7. And NOW we get to hear from YOU 
Next steps
And NOW we get to hear from YOU 