1. 29 February 2012 Inter-Agency Group on Economic and Financial Statistics (IAG) and the G-20 Data Gaps Initiative Laurs Nørlund Director - National Accounts, Prices and Key Indicators Eurostat - European Commission Side Event at the 43 rd Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission New York – 29 February 2012

2. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Outline The crisis and the identification of data gaps The reaction of the Statistical System Setting up an international framework Selected examples: –Real estate prices –Sector accounts –Distributional information

3. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Statistics and the crisis The crisis generated a number of challenges for official statisticians Financial, economic and political actors turned to statistics to describe the situation and to detect, assess and forecast these phenomena Increased number of requests for relevant statistical data in a timely and reliable fashion Statistical authorities has been under scrutiny, as well as their capacity to face these challenges

4. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC The crisis and the identification of the gaps The crisis profoundly impacted on official statistics and the way they are organised –Data gaps – ad hoc initiatives –International comparability –Timeliness and relevance –New challenges (e.g. globalisation) –Communication –Organisational aspects –More efficient use of available (scarse) resources

5. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC What did we learn from the crisis? Sufficient advanced warning: lessons to be learnt Monitoring of the impacts on economy, society and environment Monitoring of political responses and their impacts Foresee and mitigate a possible crisis and support the treatment of damages by means of high quality statistical information and excellent communication

6. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC The domino effect of the crisis: what about statistics? Forecasts Financial indicators Economic indicators Social Indicators Environmental Indicators

7. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Indicators: the way forward Identify the ideal « statitical toolkit » for policy makers and economic and financial actors and structure it in levels suited for different purposes (Principal Global Indicators) Boost availability and timeliness of a set of internationally comparable key indicators (work of the IAG) Enhance the availability in weak areas (financial indicators, housing market, integrated indicators, …) Extend to other involved areas (social statistics, environmental statistics) – e.g. follow-up of Stiglitz report Re-think the paradigms: globalisation, world accounts, harmonisation, comparability, link between national and private accounting

8. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC The reaction of the statistical systems Going beyond the existing approaches and systems Go towards –systematic collaboration between the different partners –integration of data sets –combination of data from different sources (public and private) Statistics as integrated parts of comprehensive production systems for cluster of statistics –data warehouse approach Change in the professional paradigm of statistical offices from "data-collectors" to "re-users of data".

9. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Setting up an international framework G20 recommendations and PGIs Methodological frameworks –International agreed manuals (SNA, BPM6, RPPI, …) –Guidelines for the practical implementation Infrastructural framework –Data warehouse –Standards for exchange of data: SDMX –Industrialisation/standardisation of production systems –Statistical hubs Committments –Legal framework (where appropriate) –Peer pressure –User pressure

10. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Example 1: Real estate prices – R19 Residential Property Prices Indices –Starting conference to define the context –Handbook prepared by methodological experts –Initial experimental collection of data –Definition of practical rules and data templates (well advanced in Europe) –Setting up a legal framework (in Europe) –Associated information Commercial Property Price Indicators –Same approach starting now (context conference in May)

11. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Example 2: Quarterly sectoral accounts - R15 Users’ needs Definition of the context (already 10 years ago) Setting up the system –Strict cooperation between NSIs and Central Banks, Eurostat, ECB and BIS –Integrated approach –Communication –Methodology and practicalities –Legal framework (in Europe) Leading product Further developments in the future (e.g. timeliness, quality aspects)

12. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Example 3: Distributional information – R16 Challenge: going beyond GDP Major political and mediatic interest Top down approach (from politicians) on an existing bottom- up basis (statisticians) Define the framework: –Translating leading ideas in concrete ‘numbers’ –Re-define the paradigm (beyond GDP) –Use available statistics to produce new outcomes Consolidating the framework

13. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Impact on the G20 process and outcome Key Indicators Cross-country concepts Concepts by country METHODOLOGYMETHODOLOGY INFRASTRUCTUREINFRASTRUCTURE HARMONISATIONHARMONISATION PGIs Communication Web services Timeliness Harmonised data

14. 29 February 2012IAG – Side event 43 rd Session UNSC Thank you for your attention!