Reporting of National Accounts data Seminar on Developing a global programme for the implementation of the 2008 SNA and supporting statistics Pretoria, South Africa 17 – 19 October 2012

Outline Frequency of Reporting. Implementation of the 1993 SNA. Scope of national accounts statistics reported to the UNSD. We will look at 3 aspects of compliance with the UN-NAQ questionnaire. For all items we will look specifically at the countries of the OIC; comparisons of the OIC countries with all countries will also be presented for demonstration purposes. First, we will discuss the timeliness (or frequency) of reporting to the UN-NAQ. In this discussion we look at how often countries are reporting to UNSD (yearly versus less than yearly). Second, we will assess the implementation of the 1993 SNA for the countries of the OIC. Here we will discuss the time frame in which the 1993 SNA was implemented for the countries of the OIC. Lastly, we look at the scope of national accounts data reported to the UNSD; specifically, with respect to the tables of the minimum requirement data set and UN milestone level. These two assessments of scope have been defined by the UNSC as a part of the Report of the ISWGNA to the thirty-second session of the UNSC, document E/CN.3/2001/8 and as a part of the Report of the ISWGNA to the twenty-ninth session of the UNSC, document E/CN.3/1997/12, respectively.

Frequency of Reporting Figure 1: Frequency of Reporting   Total number of countries Number of countries that replied to UN-NAQ At least once At least once between 2007-2011 2010 NAQ 2011 NAQ All countries/areas 222 214 (96%) 202 (91%) 173 (78%) UN Member States 193 189 (98%) 182 (94%) 161 (83%) 156 (81%) Developed regions 47 (100%) 44 45 Developing regions 158 150 (95%) 144 119 (75%) 118 SADC 15 14 (93%) 13 (87%) 11 (73%) COMESA 19 18 16 (84%) (74%) (68%) Fourteen of the of the fifteen SADC have countries routinely report national accounts statistics to the UN. The most recent available data the UN has for the Democratic Republic of the Congo is 1992. The only COMESA country that has not submitted data to UNSD yet is Eritrea. Comoros (last data: 1991) and Djibouti (last data: 1998) have not been submitting data for some time. Overall, the reporting of SADC countries is very high. However, many countries do not report every year (notice that 87% replied to the 2010 NAQ and only 73% to the 2011). It important to keep in mind throughout this presentation that all tables are based on data reported to the UNSD; some countries might have very well developed national accounts, but the numbers might not be reported to the UNSD.

Implementation of the 1993 SNA Total Number of Countries Number of Countries that Implemented the 1993 SNA Prior to 2001 Prior to 2005 Prior to 2008 Up to 2011 All Countries 222 77 (34%) 98 (44%) 130 (58%) 177 (80%) UN Member States 193 76 (40%) 91 (47%) 121 (63%) 157 (81%) Developed regions 47 36 (73%) 40 (82%) 42 (86%) 46 (98%) Developing regions 158 29 (18%) (28%) 116 SADC 15 7 8 (53%) 10 (67%) 12 COMESA 19 (42%) 11 As of this year 12 of the 15 SADC countries have implemented the 1993 SNA (based on data received by UNSD). On the next slide we will look at a breakdown of which countries have implemented the 1993 SNA and discuss commonalities between these countries. Based on the data sent to UNSD.

Implementation of the 1993 SNA (Cont) Of the 15 SADC countries: 7 implemented the 1993 SNA prior to 2001. 5 implemented the 1993 SNA after 2001. 3 have not implemented the 1993 SNA (including the DRC which has not responded to the NAQ since 1993). There seems to be a fairly large time gap between the countries that were able to implement the 1993 SNA quickly as compared to the others.

Data submission Conceptual Implementation of 1993 SNA Data available between   SNA93 2007 - 2011 2009 2010 2011 Last submission a b d e f g h 15 12 14 13 6 Angola 1 26-Jun-12 Botswana 10-May-11 Democratic Republic of the Congo Lesotho 23-Apr-12 Madagascar 17-May-12 Malawi 11-May-12 Mauritius 10-Apr-12 Mozambique 30-Mar-12 Namibia 25-Jul-11 Seychelles 3-Apr-12 South Africa 27-Mar-12 Swaziland 13-Aug-12 Tanzania - Mainland 4-May-12 Zambia 4-Feb-11 Zimbabwe 22-Feb-12 As of this year 12 of the 15 SADC countries have implemented the 1993 SNA (based on data received by UNSD).

Scope of National Account Statistics The scope of national accounts statistics is based on indicators set by the UNSC. The UNSC defined a standard minimum requirement data set (MRDS) to be the table required for meaningful policy decision making. The UNSC defined statistical implementation milestones. The scope of national accounts statistics is well defined in the contact of the UN national accounts section. The scope based on indicators set by the UNSC. The UNSC defined a standard minimum requirement data set (MRDS) to be the table required for meaningful policy decision making. The MRDS includes gross domestic product by expenditure and industry, at current and constant prices; output, value added and gross capital formation by industry; relations among product, income, saving and net lending/borrowing; and at least parts of the integrated economic accounts for the total economy and the rest of the world.The MRDS was defined in 2001 by the UNSC. We report on two milestone levels that were set by the Statistical Commission: milestone 1 is obtained when gross domestic product by expenditures in current or constant prices and gross national income are provided; and milestone 2 is obtained when least value added by industry, gross domestic product by expenditures in current or constant prices, and gross national income are provided.

Tables of the MRDS Based on data submitted to UNSD.  Data available between 2007-2011 Total number of countries Tables of the Minimum Requirement Data Set 1.1 1.2 2.1/2.4 2.2/2.5 2.3/2.6 1.3/ 4.1 4.2 All countries/areas 222 183 (82%) 153 (69%) 192 (86%) 180 (81%) 140 (63%) 155 (70%) 105 (47%) UN Member States 193 167 (87%) 145 (75%) 174 (90%) 169 (88%) 127 (66%) 142 (74%) 98 (51%) Developed countries 47 46 (98%) 43 (91%) (100%) 44 (94%) 35 Developing countries 158 126 (80%) 101 (64%) 134 (85%) 85 (54%) 62 (39%) SADC 15 13 11 (73%) 14 (93%) 8 (53%) 10 (67%) 7 COMESA 19 6 (32%) 9 3 (16%) As the above chart shows, we have table 1.1 and 1.2 (GDP by expenditure) and table 2.1 and 2.2 (Value added by industry) for most SADC countries. However, table 2.3 (output by industry) submissions are quite low. Based on data submitted to UNSD.

Scope of National Accounts Statistics   Data available  Total MRDS Milestone Level  between 2007-2011 Number  6 or more tables 7 tables 1 or higher 2 All countries/areas 222 115 (52%) 87 (39%) 183 (82%) 148 (67%) UN Member States 193 111 (58%) 85 (44%) 168 (87%) 138 (72%) Developed countries 47 35 (74%) 32 (68%) 46 (98%) 42 (89%) Developing countries 158 71 (45%) (30%) 126 (80%) 95 (60%) SADC 15 7 (47%) 13 10 COMESA 19 4 (21%) (11%) 14 9 Most of the SADC countries can meet the 1st and second milestone; however, less than half of the countries submit 6 or more tables. These countries are Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania. Based on data submitted to UNSD.

Conclusions Many of the SADC countries have very well developed systems of national accounts. Two thirds of SADC countries are currently providing national accounts data that meets milestone 2 as defined by the UNSC.

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