CARICOM Seminar on the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008) 14-16 June 2010, Jolly Beach, Resort, Antigua and Barbuda

CARICOM Regional Workshop on International Trade in Services Statistics 21-25 November 2016, Jolly Beach Resort, Antigua and Barbuda

CONTENT OF PRESENTATION CARICOM CONTENT OF PRESENTATION Support for Statistics General Project Approach National Accounts Support Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified Implementation Plan for the 2008 SNA Elements of the Statement of Strategy

Support for Statistics CARICOM Support for Statistics In 2007, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) signed an agreement with the European Community in support of the implementation of the Caribbean Integration Support Programme (CISP), funded under the Ninth European Development Fund (9th EDF). The CISP included a statistical component with an overarching objective of ‘Improved and Harmonised Economic Statistics Developed and Disseminated’. The importance of this objective was based on the need to provide the necessary information to monitor and guide the formation and strengthening of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) to decision-makers.

General Project Approach CARICOM General Project Approach June 2008 - A strategising meeting for execution of activities in statistics under the CISP was held in Barbados. Meeting aimed at assessing the impact of developmental work put in place in Economic Statistics and to prioritize the work to be done. The main results was the production of the Barbados Action Plan which was the framework for the delivery of training and technical assistance under the project.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Two (2) activities supported National Accounts under the Statistical Component: First Activity: Strengthen the Capacity of Economic Statistics in CARIFORUM (March 2009 – April 2010) The general purpose : Support the coordination of a harmonised statistical system for the region by strengthening the capacity of countries to develop, produce and disseminate improved and timely macro-economic aggregates and indicators. Major Outputs Nineteen (19) statistical staff trained in procedures and compilation methods during a April 2009 meeting. Comprehensive baseline assessment of Regional Statistical System completed based on findings of same meeting.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Major Outputs (cont’d) CARICOM Economic Statistics Action Plan (CESAP) developed; Harmonised Integrated Economic Surveys initiated; Support provided to establishing of a Statistical Help Desk; In-country technical assistance provided in the development of economic statistics to Member States (Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago)

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Second Activity: Improvement in the Basic Data Production in National Accounts (June 2010 – February 2011) The general objective: Provide support to improve the basic source for data production which can be used to compile more complex national economic statistics. Major Outputs Draft framework developed towards the establishment and maintenance of Statistical Business Registers (based on and including recommendations of the TWG); Assessment of data sources of selected Member States completed (Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago);

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Major Outputs (cont’d) November 2010 – Thirty-three (33) participants trained during a workshop convened under this project. This capacity building effort aimed to harmonise the knowledge gained on data sources and Statistics Business Register across countries.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Other Capacity Building Initiatives February 2011 (Antigua and Barbuda) – CARICOM Workshop on National Accounts convened. Purpose: To further reinforce the Technical Assistance applied under the 2nd activity. Sixteen (16) participants benefitted from training in the design and the content of the Statistical Business Register, and the use of source data in the compilation of National Accounts concentrating on the priority areas identified. Technical Working Group (TWG) in National Accounts and Trade in Services was established. In the two (2) meetings convened, the outputs developed were: First manual relative to establishing and maintaining Statistical Business Registers as well as a supporting questionnaire.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Other Capacity Building Initiatives Technical Working Group (TWG) cont’d: Reviewed the Integrated Economic Questionnaires. Initiated an approach for establish a formal Attachment Programme.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Collaborative Efforts June 2010 (Antigua and Barbuda)- Collaborated with United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) on a seminar on the implementation of the 2008 SNA in Antigua and Barbuda. Aim: Formulating an implementation programme for the 2008 SNA and supporting economic statistics. Output: Regional review and commitment to further work on a diagnostic questionnaire relative to the implementation of the 2008 SNA November 2011 (Belize)- Follow-up seminar on the Implementation of the 2008 SNA was convened in collaboration with EUROSTAT. Aim: To assist countries in 2008 SNA implementation to further support sound macro-economic management and evidence-based policy formulation. Output: A Regional 2008 SNA Implementation Strategy was developed for Member States to modify and adopt.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Regional Implementation Strategy for the 2008 SNA Master Plan 4 Phases: Phase A: Aims and Objectives Phase B: Organisation Phase C: Compilation Phase D: Dissemination

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Collaborative Efforts (cont’d) February 2012 (Suriname)- collaborated with the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) to convene a Workshop on National Accounts. Aim: To provide training on the methodology for compiling National Accounts Statistics based on the 2008 SNA. Output: Twenty-nine (29) participants were trained in the application of new recommendations of the 2008 SNA. November 2012 (Jamaica)- collaborated with the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) and EUROSTAT to convene a workshop on the ERETES software for the compilation of National Accounts. Aim: To introduce the ERETES system as an option for improving the process of compiling national accounts of high quality.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Collaborative Efforts (cont’d) January 2013 (Jamaica)- collaborated with UNSD to convene a regional seminar on developing a programme for the implementation of the 2008 SNA and supporting statistics. Aim: To further the implementation of the 2008 SNA through the development country-specific approaches, including the recommendations of the Regional Strategy developed in November 2011. Output: Eight (8) participating Member States have developed and submitted Statements of Strategy and Implementation Plans relative to the 2008 SNA.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Statement of Strategy The Statement of Strategy is a strategic planning frame work for the development of an economic statistics programme to meet policy needs. It comprises a set of actions to accomplish statistical and institutional goals for the sustainable improvement of the economic statistics programmes. Elements: Mandate Mission statement Values High-level goals Specific goals Required actions

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Support under the Tenth EDF Project to Improve the Production and Dissemination of the System of National Accounts Objective:- to provide decision-makers of CARICOM with high quality statistics to monitor and guide the progress of the CSME; Purpose:- to build upon the support provided under the Ninth EDF by reinforcing the capacity of the NSOs to produce key National Accounts Statistics consistent with International Standards.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Scope of Work The Experts will provide the required technical assistance and training to assist countries in filling the data gaps in National Accounts estimates in applying the 2008 SNA. Regional Workshops will also be conducted to reinforce and harmonise the in-country technical assistance. The project will focus on key tables of the internationally recommended MRDS of the 2008 SNA to enable the improvement in the production of these tables in terms of the sources and methods and in particular the application of relevant 2008 SNA methodological requirements.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Scope of Work (cont’d) Specific attention will be undertaken to ensure that the MRDS tables not currently being produced in several countries are addressed during the application of technical assistance and regional training. Guidelines that can be region-specific in its relevance will be prepared to assist countries. Member States of the Caribbean Community are to be covered in this Project and the target group comprises personnel in NSOs and other relevant producing agencies/organisations as well as key users of statistics.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Results to be achieved Overall Result:- Production of key tables of the Minimum Required Data Set (MRDS) of the 2008 SNA and the Use of Annual/Quarterly National Accounts and related indicators improved; Statements of Strategy produced/refined and Country Implementation Plans developed with regard to the 2008 SNA Implementation; Country gap analysis focusing on the changes based on the 1993 SNA (from 1968 SNA) and on the 2008 SNA (from 1993 SNA) and on recommended related indicators prepared;

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Results to be achieved (cont’d) Statistical, administrative and other sources of data for Annual National Accounts and related indicators strengthened in-country to improve the quality of the estimation in the following key MRDS tables: Expenditure on the GDP (current & constant prices) Value Added and GDP by industry (current & constant prices) Value Added components by industry, current prices and Employment by industry Accounts of the Rest of the World (until net lending); and Accounts for the Total Economy (until net lending)

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Results to be achieved (cont’d) Relevant 2008 SNA methodological requirements identified and technical assistance applied in-country in the compilation of the MRDS tables in (iii); Specifically with respect to the MRDS, a region-specific framework developed comprising sources and methods including price and volume measures for GDP by Expenditure in Constant Prices; Regional training workshop facilitated to enable harmonisation and the sharing of best practices in the sources and methods and in the application of relevant 2008 SNA methodological requirements;

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Results to be achieved (cont’d) Guidelines for the production of nominal and volume measures on Quarterly GDP by Industry developed and regional training applied; Use of National Accounts/Economic Statistics by key stakeholders improved; Process of building capacity in countries including the successes, best practices as well as challenges documented.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Achievements Several notable achievements have resulted from the Project: Detail information is available for every Member State on several areas such as staff capacity and organisational structure, the current and planned use of various statistical survey instruments, the production of MRDS tables, and use of Classification systems Detailed Statements of Strategy regarding the approach for the implementation of the 2008 SNA was also updated/developed for eleven (11) Member States.

National Accounts Support CARICOM National Accounts Support Achievements (cont’d) Relevant technical assistance was delivered to fourteen (14) Member States under the 2nd round of in-country missions, and ten (10) Member States (including Haiti) during the 3rd round of in-country missions. Draft guidelines also prepared relative to Quarterly GDP and GDP by Expenditure (Constant Prices). A Regional training workshop was convened which enabled harmonisation and the sharing of best practices in the sources and methods and in the application of relevant 2008 SNA methodological requirements.

Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region CARICOM Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region Goods exported for processing Output of non-life insurance using adjusted claims Allocation of FISIM to users

Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region CARICOM Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region Goods sent abroad for processing Goods sent abroad for processing should be recorded on change of ownership basis. The 2008 SNA recommends that imports and exports should be recorded on a strict change of ownership basis. That is, flows of goods between the country owning the goods and the country providing the processing services should not be recorded as imports and exports of goods. Instead the fee paid to the processing unit should be recorded as the import of processing services by the country owning the goods and an export of processing services by the country providing it.

Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region CARICOM Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region Recoding of output of Non-life insurance services improved Catastrophic events generate massive claims on non-life insurance companies In such cases the output of the insurance activity estimated using the basic algorithm of the 1993 SNA anchored on the balance of premiums and claims could be extremely volatile (even negative). The 2008 SNA, therefore recommends that the output of the non-life insurance activity should be calculated using the adjusted claims and adjusted premiums supplements. Output = Actual premiums earned + Adjusted premium supplements - Adjusted claims incurred.

Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region CARICOM Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region Method for calculating financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) is refined By convention the 2008 SNA recommends that FISIM applies only to loans and deposits and only when those loans and deposits are provided by, or deposited with, financial institutions. The 2008 SNA calculates the output of FISIM on loans (VL) and deposits (Vd) only, using a reference rate (rr). Assuming that these loans and deposits attract interest rates of rL and rd respectively, the output of FISIM should be calculated according to the formula (rL - rr) VL + (rr - rd) Vd. The 1993 SNA calculated FISIM as the difference between property income receivable and interest payable.

Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region CARICOM Key 2008 SNA Recommendations Identified as Relevant for the Region Method for calculating financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) is refined The 2008 SNA recommends that the consumption of FISIM should be allocated between users (lenders as well as borrowers) treating the allocated amounts either as intermediate consumption by enterprises or as final consumption or exports.

Regional Implementation Plan for the 2008 SNA CARICOM Annex Regional Implementation Plan for the 2008 SNA Statement of Strategy

2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan Objective: To facilitate the implementation of the 2008 SNA through the drafting of a national strategy adapted to suit country specific situations; SNA is integrated and data dependent throughout the NSS: Business Establishment Surveys; Other areas of Economic Statistics; Household Surveys; Other specialised surveys Updated classification systems; Administrative Sources within the NSS.

2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan cont’d CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan cont’d Location of SNA 2008 Implementation Strategy within NSDS/Strategic Planning framework; Identify Improvements required; Capacity constraints that exist across statistical agencies Establish priorities for addressing data deficiencies and institutional issues; It is not the intention for the 2008 SNA implementation to await the implementation of the Master plan.

2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan cont’d CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan cont’d Elements of Master plan identified were: Launch – low & decreasing budgets and increasing demand for statistics require efficiency in management of NSOs and productivity; Assessments - data availability, quality, enable stakeholders’ awareness of data requirements and , commitments; user needs, relevance of data; Identify weaknesses and strengths - impact on statistics compilation;

2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan cont’d CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan – Master Plan cont’d Elements of Master plan identified (cont’d): Identify weaknesses and strengths - impact on statistics compilation; Develop vision, mission – what is feasible in the short, medium and long term; Establish the desired results and Priorities- for addressing data deficiencies and institutional issues such as the Legal Framework, capacity. Finance, M&E - to implement changes required and monitor the achievement of results.

2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Aims and Objectives CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Aims and Objectives Phase A- Implementation of 2008 SNA Detailed focus on the National Accounts Division in terms of its capacity; Review Data Sources such as Household and Business Surveys and Administrative Sources; Review Statistical Outputs and the needs of international and national users; Determine milestones relative to the outputs/National Accounts tables.

2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Organisation CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Organisation Phase B: Strengthening of the Legal Framework – reviewing the Statistics Act to enable a more integrated statistical system and to empower the NSO and the Chief Statistician relative to official statistics; Institutional Context and the NAD- determine which organisation will implement the 2008 SNA; Organise the NAD to implement 2008 SNA: Engage in capacity building- staffing, attachments; SBR updating & Interdepartmental coordination;

2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Compilation CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Compilation Phase C: Data Collection– Establishing formal relationships with data providers: Inter-agency collaboration; Develop MOUs; Creating networks (IT) to access databases; Data Sources- Meet with data providers to discuss data and adjustments required; Relative to the MOUs determine the actual data to be delivered, formats, frequency; Create data storage and automated systems of compiling NA.

2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Compilation cont’d CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Compilation cont’d Phase C (continued): Transformation of Admin Data – Create of bridge tables- to highlight differences relative to SNA boundaries and convert to SNA 2008; Search for other quantitative and qualitative information Data Validation – Check coverage, consistency and plausibility; Undertake first run of preliminary estimates and apply balancing and reconciliation; Produce preliminary estimates; Data Revisions: Undertake revisions including benchmarking, methodological etc;

2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Dissemination CARICOM 2008 SNA Implementation Plan- Dissemination Phase D: Users –Determine users/frequency; Methods of Dissemination –Electronic, Websites, Seminars etc; Advanced Release Calendars: Develop the calendar, the target groups, details required by users etc.;

Statement of Strategy – Mandate CARICOM Statement of Strategy – Mandate Mandate, is determined by national and regional policy objectives and underpinned by the regulatory and institutional framework Legal mandate (Statistical act and other relevant legislation), with possible review, revise and enact new legislation International standards UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics 2008 SNA, BPM6, GFSM, MFSM, ISIC rev4

Statement of Strategy – Mission Statement CARICOM Statement of Strategy – Mission Statement Mission statement describes the purpose, users, outputs, markets, philosophy and basic technology The efficient and timely dissemination of high quality national accounts and supporting economic statistics in response to policy needs in an interconnected regional and global economic environment

Statement of Strategy – Values CARICOM Statement of Strategy – Values Values need to reflect the values and principles portrayed by the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics to produce useful high-quality data Statistical professionalism Relevance, public utility and equal access Independence and integrity Excellent service to our customers Respect and understanding for our data suppliers Value for money

Statement of Strategy – High-level goals CARICOM Statement of Strategy – High-level goals High-level goals represent the overall accomplishments to be achieved Improving scope, quality and timeliness of economic statistics Minimizing response burden Increasing use of administrative data for statistical purposes Achieving cost effectiveness using best practices Raising public awareness and use of national accounts and economic statistics

Statement of Strategy – Specific goals CARICOM Statement of Strategy – Specific goals Specific goals describe the ultimate results that need to be accomplished Compile national accounts according to MRDS Develop a national central hub for short term economic statistics

Statement of Strategy – Required actions CARICOM Statement of Strategy – Required actions Required actions to be carried out: Regulatory and institutional framework – strengthening the functioning of NSS, its programming, management and performance Statistical infrastructure – strengthening of use of standards (2008 SNA), classifications (ISIC Rev 4), registers and frames, modernizing information management and information technology Statistical operations – strengthening of data collection, compilation, dissemination and analysis

CARICOM Thank You