1 Workshop on National Accounts 6-9 July 2009, New Delhi, India Gulab Singh UN Statistics Division South Asian Countries Compliance with the UN-NAQ Questionnaire

Outline  Introduction.  UN National Accounts Questionnaire  Scope of national accounts statistics reported to the UNSD.  Scope of 1993 SNA implementation.

Introduction  At the request of the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) the UNSD  Collects National Accounts data from Member States  regularly evaluates the conceptual compliance of official NA data with the recommendations of the 1993 SNA  The data is collected annually through the National Accounts Questionnaire (UN-NAQ)  Collected from individual country and/or regional organizations like United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); OECD; or through the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM)  Many countries are not able to submit the minimum requirement data set (as defined by the UNSC) to the UNSD.

UN National Accounts Questionnaire  Table 1.1 GDP by expenditures at current prices  Table 1.2 GDP by expenditures at constant prices  Table 1.3 Relations among product, income, savings, and net lending aggregates  Table 2.1 Value added by industries at current prices  Table 2.2 Value added by industries at constant prices  Table 2.3 Output, gross value added, and fixed assets by industries at current prices  Table 3.1 Government final consumption expenditure by function at current prices  Table 3.2 Individual consumption expenditure of households, NPISHs, and general government at current prices  Table 4.1 Total Economy – Sequence of accounts  Table 4.2 Rest of the world Minimum required data set (MRDS) MRDS Tables 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1 or 1.3 and 4.2

General Comments on Reporting  SAARC Member States and Afghanistan report their national accounts data directly to the UNSD through the UN-NAQ

Scope of National Account Statistics  The scope of national accounts data reported to the UNSD is evaluated against a standard “minimum requirement data set” (MRDS), and against the “milestone” achieved  A set of MRDS required for meaningful policy decision making, was adopted by the UNSC at its 32 nd session in  The UNSC at its 29 th session in 1997 defined statistical implementation “milestones”.  Milestone and compliance with the identified indicators - both evaluate the scope of 1993 SNA implementation

Frequency of Reporting Figure 1: Frequency of Reporting

Compliance with 1993 SNA concepts Elements affecting the level of GDP Gross capital formation (GCF)/output  Is government defence expenditure on fixed assets that can be used for civilian purposes included in GCF?  Is consumption of fixed capital included on all government fixed assets (roads, dams and breakwaters and other forms of construction except structures)?  Is all mineral exploration (successful and unsuccessful) capitalized?  Is expenditure on computer software purchases included in GCF and on software development included in output?  Is expenditure on entertainment, literary or artistic originals included in GCF and on their development included in output?  Is expenditure on valuables included in GCF?  1993 SNA extends the production boundary of households to include all goods produced by households for own consumption:: are these goods included in output?  Is the natural growth of cultivated forests included in GCF? Volume estimates  Are volumes estimated using a chaining procedure with annually changing weights? Social contributions/insurance  Are unfunded social contributions (for sickness, unemployment, retirement etc.) by enterprises imputed as compensation of employees and included as contributions to private employer initiated social insurance schemes?  Rather than be based just on premiums less claims, do non-life insurance estimates include premium supplements ? Elements affecting GNI  Are reinvested earnings estimates included in the rest of the world account?  Are foreign workers’ remittances excluded? Elements not affecting the level of GDP/GNI  Final consumption  Is government final consumption expenditure broken down into individual and collective consumption ?

Implementation milestones for the 1993 SNA Phases of implementationComplementary data systems SNA-related data and development Pre-SNA phases -Basic data (production etc.) -BOP goods and services -Monetary stock statistics -Price indices (consumer, producer, wholesale) Phase 1. Basic indicators of GDP at Current and constant prices -Final expenditures on GDP -GDP by industry -Supply and Use worksheets -Other BOP transactions (income transfers, capital and financial) -GFS transaction accounts Phase 2. GNI and other primary indicators -External account of primary incomes and current transfers -Capital and financial accounts for the rest of the world -Capital stock statistics -BOP stock statistics (IIP) -GFS stock statistics -Monetary and other financial flow statistics - QNA - Regional accounts - Satellite accounts for environment and other country priority satellite accounts - Input-output analysis Phase 3. Institutional sector accounts: first steps -Production accounts for all institutional sectors -Generation of income -Allocation of primary income -Secondary distribution income -Use of income -Capital and financial accounts for general govt. Same as for phase 2 Phase 4. Institutional sector accounts: intermediate steps -Generation of income -Allocation of primary income -Secondary distribution of income -Use of income -Capital accounts for all institutional sectors other than government Same as for phase 2 Phase 5. Institutional sector accounts: last of the transaction accounts -Financial accounts for all institutional sectors other than general government Same as for phase 2 Phase 6. Other flows, accounts and balance sheets -Other changes in assets accounts for all institutional sectors -Balance sheets Same as for phase 2

Implementation of the 1993 SNA Based on the data sent to UNSD.

Implementation of the 1993 SNA (Cont) Of the SAARC countries: - 2 implemented the 1993 SNA prior to implemented the 1993 SNA between 2001 and implemented the 1993 SNA after 2001

Tables of the MRDS Based on data submitted to UNSD.

Scope of National Accounts Statistics Based on data submitted to UNSD.

Conclusions  Availability of NA data from the South Asian countries has increased in the past.  There are 4 countries that have implemented the 1993 SNA in the last 3 years.  Hopefully we can work together to improve the implementation of international standards to national accounts of the South Asian countries.

Thank You