1. Besa Muwele African Development Bank
Review of National Accounts implementation in SADC and COMESA countries Key Findings
Besa Muwele
African Development Bank

2. OUTLINE Background Countries covered in the assessment
Dimensions for evaluation of National Accounts
Methodology for assessment
Staffing of National Accounts
Recommendations

3. Background Statistical Business Register SNA 2008 Implementation
Training workshops:
Development of implementation plans (April 2015 Botswana)
Compilation of GDP using commodity flow approach (July Daresalaam)
Construction of Supply and Use tables (February 2016 Harare)
Methodological Review of Benchmarking, Rebasing and Chain- linking of Economic Indicators (October 2016 Mauritius
Technical Assistance in NADABAS: Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia
National Accounts Manual (to be published in first quarter )
Expert group meeting (2012)
Finalization of the guidelines and publication (2013)
Generic System currently operational in Mauritius
Technical assistance missions conducted in 8 countries mainly in SADC . TA currently going on in Ethiopia
Revision of the guidelines to take into account of international guidelines
Study tours conducted by countries to Mauritius including Senegal, Swaziland and Zimbabwe

4. Summary COMESA membership: 19 countries
(Non-SADC) COMESA+ report coverage: 14 countries
SADC membership: 15 countries
Nine (9) COMESA countries covered in this report: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda.
9 COMESA countries covered in this report.
Seven (7) non-COMESA SADC countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania.
Eight (8) COMESA countries, which are SADC member states: DR Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Eight (8) COMESA countries that are also SADC member states: DR Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Two (2) COMESA countries which are not covered in this report due to lack of information: Eritrea and Libya.
Four additional African countries that belong neither to COMESA nor SADC: Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

5. Methodology of Assessment
Basic
Additional
scope of national accounts development in terms of the milestone attained, the minimum requirement dataset (MRDS
assesses basic economic data that are needed for the development of national accounts
qualitative characteristics of national accounts datasets
adherence to the concepts of the SNA2008
provided to the IMF’s on General Dissemination System (GDDS) and Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS
The information that is used for the milestones assessment is the data submitted to the United Nations’ Statistics Division
response to its Annual National Accounts Questionnaire. These data up to 2013 was published in 2014 by the United Nations
supplemented by recent national publications that can generally be retrievable on government websites

6. Three dimensions for evaluation of NA
Quality
adhered closely to the definitions, concepts, methods of estimation and the classification system of the 1993 SNA
a national plan for basic statistics (5-10 cycle of census/register and more frequent data)
regular programs to collect annual and monthly basic statistics for national accounts purpose.
Timeliness: relevance to decision-makers (up to date quarterly, annually).
Comprehensiveness in terms of scope (production, distribution and use of income by for total economy and by sectors, financial accounts and balance sheets).

7. Three dimensions for evaluation of NA
Quality
adhered closely to the definitions, concepts, methods of estimation and the classification system of the 1993 SNA
a national plan for basic statistics (5-10 cycle of census/register and more frequent data)
regular programs to collect annual and monthly basic statistics for national accounts purpose.
Timeliness: relevance to decision-makers (up to date quarterly, annually).
Comprehensiveness in terms of scope (production, distribution and use of income by for total economy and by sectors, financial accounts and balance sheets).

8. UN Milestones Milestones Requirement Milestone 1
GDP in current and constant prices by industries and by final expenditure.
Milestone 2
Milestone GNI (=GDP + net factor income from the rest of the world).
Milestone 3
Milestone 2 + Value added by institutional sectors + General government sector accounts up to net lending + Rest of the World Accounts (i.e. balance sheet). This means that Gross National Disposable Income (GNDI) is available.
Milestone 4
Milestone 3 + All institutional sectors up to net lending.
Milestone 5
Milestone 4 + All institutional sectors up to financial accounts.

9. UN minimum requirement data set (MRDS)
Annual accounts
Quarterly accounts
Milestone 1 and Milestone 2
Employment by industries
Accounts of the total economy up to net lending
Rest of the world accounts (balance sheet) up to net lending
Institutional sector accounts

10. Evaluation summary of national accounts implementation (1)
Areas
Number
COMESA Countries
SADC Countries
Annual GDP
16 countries (94%).
All countries except Comoros.
15 countries (100%).
All countries.
Quarterly GDP
7 countries (41%).
Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda and
5 SADC countries: Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Seychelles.
7 countries (47%).
Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, and Tanzania.
Minimum Requirement Data Set (MRDS)
1countries (6%).
Egypt.
1 country (7%)
South Africa.
Subscription to IMF’s SDDS
2 countries (12%).
Egypt and Mauritius.
2 countries (13%).
Mauritius and South Africa
Milestones
Milestone 4: 2 countries (12%).
Milestone 0 (1 country): Comoros.
Milestone 1 (6 countries): Djibouti, DR Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.
Milestone 2 (6 countries): Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan, Seychelles, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
Milestone 3 (2 countries): Ethiopia, Kenya.
Milestone 4 (2 countries): Egypt, Mauritius.
Milestone 4: 2 countries (13%)
Milestone 1 (7 countries): Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia and Lesotho.
Milestone 2 (5 countries): Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
Milestone 3 (1 country): Mozambique.
Milestone 4 (2 countries): Mauritius and South Africa.

11. Evaluation summary of national accounts implementation (2)
Areas
Number
COMESA Countries
SADC Countries
Supply and use tables
8 countries (47%)
Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and
4 SADC countries: Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi and Mauritius
5 countries (33%)
Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius and South Africa.
SNA 2008
4 countries (24%)
Egypt (partially), Kenya, Uganda
1 SADC countries: Malawi (partially).
2 countries (13%)
Malawi (partially) and South Africa
ISIC REV4
9 countries (53%)
Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
4 SADC countries: Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique and Seychelles.
4 countries (27%)
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique and Seychelles.

12. Basic benchmark data in SADC
Census
Census of production
Alternative to census
Administrative data
Census of population:
All countries implement census of population every 10 years.
Census of agriculture:
Every 5 years: Swaziland
Every 10 years: Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius. Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa.
Ad hoc: Angola, DR Congo, Madagascar, Seychelles, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Business registers of incorporated enterprises (i.e. corporations):
Angola, Malawi, Namibia
Census survey of agriculture:
Tanzania.
Seychelles is using financial statements from the Revenue Commission.
South Africa (the Reserve Bank) is using administrative data for the financial sector.
Economic census
Every 5 years: Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia.
Informal activities:
LFS is carried out
Every 5 years: Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia
Annually, quarterly: Botswana (S/A), Madagascar (A), Mauritius (Q), South Africa (Q)
It is unclear how countries estimate annual and quarterly GDP without annual and quarter LFS or even annual household income and expenditure survey.
Household income and expenditure survey
Every 10 years: Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania.
Every 5 years: Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland.

13. Basic benchmark data in COMESA
Census
Census of production
Alternative to census
Administrative data
Census of population:
Except Eritrea and Comoros, other countries implement census of population every 10 years. Eritrea had the last census in 1984, before independence in Last census in Comoros:2003.
Census of agriculture:
Every 10 years or more: Egypt, Nigeria, Uganda.
Ghana: latest 84/85. One is in planning.
Ad hoc or as part of census of population: Burundi, Sierra Leone.
Business registers of incorporated enterprises (i.e. corporations):
Egypt, Uganda.
Census survey of agriculture:
None.
Egypt: using data from reports on public enterprises.
It is unclear that any other country in the group has a deliberate policy to use data on corporation to compile national accounts.
Economic census
Varying 5 to 10 years: Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda
Updated registers frequently: Uganda
Ad hoc and no census: Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Eritrea, Liberia and Sudan.
Informal activities:
LFS is carried out
Quarterly: Egypt, Nigeria
Every 3-5 years: Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana (part of household survey).
Every 10 years: Kenya.
Ad hoc: Liberia, Sierra Leone.
Household income and expenditure survey
Bi-annually: Nigeria.
Every 5 years: Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone.
Ad hoc: Burundi, Ghana, Kenya.

14. Staffing on National accounts in SADC and COMESA

15. Minimum professional personnel for National Accounts
Chief 1
SUT, annual & quarterly national accounts balancing including estimation of GCF, price indexes for nonmarket services 2
Nonfinancial sector/activities
Financial activities (banks, insurance, other financial services)
Government sector (transforming government finance statistics to SNA and estimating quarter and annual data)
Foreign trade (transforming trade statistics, BOP to SNA data)
0.5
Informal activities
Household activities, final consumption
1-2
Total
9-10

16. Recommendations for improving National Accounts
National strategy on improvement of economic statistics and National Accounts
A 5-year cycle construction of benchmark national accounts such as the supply and use table and institutional sector accounts
For formal enterprises: a 5 year cycle economic census for the incorporated enterprises
may be replaced by a thoroughly updated register of business every 5 years and also updated yearly
the economic census should be followed by a detailed survey to cover all large corporations and a sample of medium and small enterprises
to obtain information for the construction of the Supply and use tables and the full sequence of accounts for the financial and non-financial sectors.

17. Recommendations for improving National Accounts
For informal enterprises/activities, employment in the informal sector may be used to estimate this sector on the basis of every 5 year survey of the informal units identified in the population census and then by household survey.
For administrative data: it is necessary to produce foreign trade statistics, balance of payments, government finance statistics, banking and insurance statistics at least quarterly, but preferably monthly.

18. Recommendations for improving National Accounts
Monthly, quarterly surveys requesting very limited information (sales/revenues, compensation of employees and employment only) to estimate main national accounts aggregates such as quarterly GDP by extrapolating from the benchmark ratios.
More elaborate annual economic survey may be needed to affirm the quarterly data.
Proto-type questionnaire for the benchmark, annual, quarterly/monthly be developed so as to incorporate all information necessary for the implementation of SNA and the compilation of institutional sector accounts.

19. Thank You