Compilation of Distributive Trade Statistics in African Countries Workshop for African countries on the implementation of International Recommendations for Distributive Trade Statistics May 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia UNITED NATIONS STATISTICS DIVISION Trade Statistics Branch Distributive Trade Statistics Section

Overview Two questionnaires sent by UNSD prior to the workshop Distributive trade statistics: Compilation practice (metadata) Seeks information on the institutional and methodological framework for the compilation of DTS, data sources, data compilation and dissemination practices Distributive trade statistics: Data availability Does not seek real numbers, rather, asks whether particular data items and breakdowns are available

Purpose of DTS questionnaires To collect information of African countries practices on DTS Look at the current situation with regard to the international comparability of DTS Identify challenges and good practices To provide inputs for the preparation of future manuals on DTS To assess the capacity of African countries to provide data for the future DTS data questionnaire and pilot DTS database

Questionnaire on Compilation practice: Major findings (1) Legal and institutional frameworks for the compilation of DTS are in place in the majority of respondent African countries Methodological framework Half of the countries follow M57 or national methodologies compatible with it Dissemination and use of DTS One third of the countries do not publish DTS Half of the countries produce and disseminate DTS metadata

Questionnaire on Compilation practice: Major findings (2) Registers, units, classifications Most of the countries have a business register, concerns about its maintenance and up-to-date coverage Some of the countries use list frames for DTS surveys Establishment or enterprise are used as a unit in DTS Most of the units in trade a single establishment enterprises This difference in country practices is taken into account in IRDTS 2008 All countries use ISIC or national classifications compatible with it as a classification of activities Different versions of ISIC have different scope of section G Concerns about the international comparability of data

Questionnaire on Compilation practice: Major findings (3) Data sources and data collection strategies Differences in survey approach among countries New tendency of using administrative data sources is emerging Periodicity of DTS surveys in some countries is problematic (when surveys are carried out at 5 years or longer intervals of time) Informal sector units Important for DTS in African countries A small number of countries do not cover them at all or cover only those in urban areas

Questionnaire on Compilation practice: Major findings (4) Data items Data items for the calculation of distributive trade output and VA are available mainly with annual periodicity Majority of countries have information about inventories and GFCF Employment data – available in all countries mainly with annual periodicity Performance indicators Only half of the countries compile some growth rates and ratios for evaluating the performance of distributive trade sector DTS indices Compilation of indices - very challenging for African countries

Questionnaire on Compilation practice: Major challenges (1) Institutional Limited resources Lack of cooperation from the statistical units General resistance from respondents including late responding and refusals Methodological Improper records keeping of units makes it difficult to get accurate data Financial Statements are not always presented in a format useful for deriving the necessary NA aggregates Incorrect administrative data

Questionnaire on Compilation practice: Major challenges (2) Organization of DTS surveys Not representative surveys, usually covering only urban areas Outdated business register makes it impossible to conduct DTS surveys Problems with tracing sampled units Low response rate, frequent closure of businesses, substitution, technical problems with weights and inclusion of informal sector units DTS in NA faces the problem of source data deficiency Classification of units are not always existent or if they do, may not be at the desired ISIC level Shifts in classifications of units based on changing activities

Questionnaire on Data availability: Major findings (1) Annual data By activity Most of the respondent countries have annual data corresponding to the majority of data items indicated except for gross output, gross margin and total value added Only about one third of the countries are able to supply some annual information on GO, gross margin and total VA By size class of enterprises About 2/3 of the countries had some statistics being collected although not necessarily in all the recommended size breakdown

Questionnaire on Data availability: Major findings (2) Annual data (cont.) Data items with no breakdown required Some data is available from a quarter of the countries For others it simply not being collected due to a lack of resources or a different approach (e.g., commodity flow), lower ISIC revision, etc. Quarterly data Available from 6 countries Monthly data Available from only 3 countries

Questionnaire on Data availability: Major challenges Annual data Full scale international comparability is unfeasible at this stage Absence of harmonized classifications Different versions of ISIC used To help compilers of DTS, the UNSD will include a transition key between ISIC, Rev.4 and previous versions of ISIC in the DTS: Compilers Manual Differences in the level of compilation of data items Short-term statistics High priority should be given by African countries to the development of quarterly and monthly DTS, incl. development of appropriate data sources

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