1. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN ECONOMIC STATISTICS IN EECCA COUNTRIES Lidia Bratanova, Statistical Division, UNECE

2. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2 Content of the presentation  National Accounts;  Price Statistics: Consumer Price Index Producer Price Index  Business Statistics: Statistical Business Registers Short-term Statistics

3. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3 National Accounts High quality national accounts are based on : 1. The overall statistical infrastructure, existing standards, quality and availability of basic statistics; 2. Specific methods and techniques for calculation of the national accounts aggregates.

4. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 4 National Accounts - prerequisites Development are needed in the following areas:  Coverage of economic activities: output and deflators for services (financial, non-market, processing)  Bookkeeping standards: full harmonization with international accounting standards  Cumulative data  Use of administrative data sources  Internationally comparable classifications: ISIC/NACE Institutional sectors classification COFOG, COPNI

5. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 5 National Accounts - methods  Implementation of the 2008 SNA Development of national implementation plans Priority should be given to changes affecting GDP measures  Translation of the 2008 SNA (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sn a2008.pdf) in Russian;http://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sn a2008.pdf  Development of guidelines facilitating the implementation of the 2008 SNA

6. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 6 National Accounts – methods  Non-observed economy  Independent GDP estimates  Allocation of FISIM  Constant price estimates  Quarterly National Accounts  Financial Accounts  Balance sheets (consumption of fixed capital, net measures, holding gains/losses)

7. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 7 Price Indices Consumer Price Index (CPI)  Population and geographical coverage  Coverage: rented dwellings, owner occupied housing, health, own account production, IT products and services  Treatment of taxes and subsidies to get purchases prices;  Sampling: reducing sample sizes and response burden by optimizing sampling techniques;  Methodological issues: calculation methods, missing prices, seasonal products, quality changes  Dissemination: publication of long time series (of non- cumulative indexes)

8. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 8 Price Indices Producer Price Index (PPI)  Coverage of establishments and commodities: optimized sampling to reduce response burden;  Recording of basic prices: adjustment for taxes and subsidies, transfer prices;  Methodological issues: adjustment for quality change;  Use of classifications not comparable with ISIC/NACE;  Dissemination: publication of long time series of non- cumulative indexes. Producer Price Index for Services Export and Import Price Indexes

9. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 9 Price Indices - International Guidelines  Consumer Price Index Manual. Theory and Practice (2004) - available also in Russian www.ilo.org/cpi-manuals  Practical Guide to Producing Consumer Price Indices. A Supplementary Handbook to the CPI Manual (forthcoming) www.unece.org/stats/archive/02.07.e.htm  Producer Price Index Manual. Theory and Practice (2004) – translation into Russian underway www.imf.org/external/np/sta/tegppi/index.htm  Exports and Imports Price Index Manual (forthcoming) www.imf.org/external/np/sta/tegeipi/index.htm

10. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 10 Business Statistics Statistical Business registers (SBRs)  Diversity of SBRs between countries: different legislation and institutional set-up, need of (sub)-regional harmonization  Statistics derived directly from the SBRs  Business demography  Implementation of revised ISIC/NACE classifications  Inclusion of multinational enterprises  Legal and administrative obstacles for the use of administrative data: need of improved data-sharing and confidentiality legislation

11. - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 11 Business Statistics Short-term Economic Indicators  Publication of long time series  Fixed based indices and discrete absolute values  Publication of revised historical series  Seasonal adjusted short-term statistics  Development of statistics on services  Sample sizes and response burden  Publication policy: methodological documentation for users, advance release calendars, revision policy for publication of historical data