COMPILATION OF INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE STATISTICS (IMTS) IN BOTSWANA Prepared for; Experts Group Meeting On the Compendium of Intra African & Related Trade Statistics; 5-7 October 2011; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia By; Onneetse Gaosekelwe Principal Statistician External Trade Statistics Central Statistics Office; BOTSWANA 1

Outline  Introduction  Institutional arrangement  Experience and Practice  Challenges  Conclusion 2

 Introduction Purpose of the presentation To share Botswana’s experience in compilation of international Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) Specifically looking at;  Current Institutional Arrangement  Experience and Practice  Challenges  Conclusion 3

 Institutional Arrangement  Customs & Excise Mandate  Collect duties related to trade, including customs and excise duties  Collect and capture all raw data on external trade transactions  Has to ensure that all transactions are lodged correctly so as to collect correct revenue  Passes electronic data on monthly basis for compilation of international merchandise trade statistics 4

 Central Statistics Office  Only government department mandated to compile official statistics including IMTS  Ensures the necessary confidentiality in compilation of all statistical information  Adheres to UNSD guidelines on compilation of IMTS 5

 Central Statistics Office Continued;  Aware Customs data may not cover complete IMTS but currently no other sources used  Currently no Memorandum of Agreement with Customs & Excise but supply of raw data running smoothly 6

 Experience & Practice  Uses raw data provided by Customs  Receives data from computerized borders not later than 15 th of the month following the reference period  Data captured using HS 2007 at eight digits  Data processed using Eurotrace for Windows 7

 Experience & Practice Continued  UNSD guidelines in IMTS compilation followed and inclusions & exclusions observed  Errors corrected working hand in hand with customs officials  Data disseminated by HS 2007, SITC & BEC Rev 4 classificasions 8

 Experience & Practice Continued  Dissemination through three reports; External Trade monthly Digest; released within eight weeks after reference period External Trade Quarterly Digest; released 90 days after reference period External Trade Annual Report; released six months after reference period 9

 Experience & Practice Cont’d  The three reports posted on the CSO website (  Data also availed to users in various formats according to their specific requests  Main users include Ministry of Trade & Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Division of Customs & Excise, Bank of Botswana and international organizations and the public at large 10

 Challenges  Staff exodus leading to few experienced staff being moved around quite often  Officers not able to stay enough time with the Unit to fully understand concepts & definitions of IMTS  Inadequate knowledge of Eurotrace by IT staff  Poor quality of quantity data 11

 Challenges Continued  Misclassification of commodities  Under reporting of values so as to pay low duties  Smuggling of goods to evade paying taxes 12

 Conclusion  Botswana now able to compile timely & comparable IMTS as a result of integrating with the world through attending regional & international workshops  Transformation of CSO to semi autonomous organization (Statistics Botswana )will assist in attracting & retaining skilled personnel Thank you for your attention 13