1. Regional Training Resources
Fourth Project Support Meeting, 13 November 2017
Alick Nyasulu/SIAP-ESCAP
Fourth Project Support Meeting, 13 November 2017
Bangkok, Thailand |

2. Outline Core Set of Economic Statistics A-P Screening Tool
What Resources Exist
What Can we do?
Discussion Questions

3. Core Set of Economic Statistics
Prices and costs
Consumer, producer, product price indices, labour cost, wages, exchange rates, PPPs, terms of trade
Demand & output
GDP (p/e), external trade, industrial structure statistics; short-term indicators (industry output/demand) and productivity
NA for economy/by sector to measure income, savings, investment, wealth; BoP to measure international income and capital flows, IIP and external debt
Income & wealth
Money & banking
Assets and liabilities of banking sector, monetary measures and interest rates
Government
Public revenue, expenditure, borrowing and lending, government accounts
TAG included IMF, ADB, Eurostat and other international organizations.
Core Set
indicative not prescriptive
judged to be the minimum set for effective economic analysis and monitoring
should be tailored to individual country needs
needs are determined by information requirements of Government and Non-Government decision makers
Description of the Core Set:
Domains
Key statistics within domains
Each key statistic is “core”
Flexibility for specific country needs
Characteristics
Frequency – SDDS,GDDS, ECB
Timeliness - SDDS can be used as a guide but this and other quality aspects covered in metadata that will accompany country specific series.
International standards / guidelines for each key statistic
SNA is an integrating framework for all these statistics.
Policy relevance of the Core Set components:
The conduct of monetary policy.
Establishing and monitoring the government's fiscal position.
Assessing the long-term capability of the economy, with a focus on sustainable growth.
Developing policies designed to achieve generally agreed economic goals, such as increased economic welfare and greater equity.
Measuring the economic, social and environmental impact of internal and external shocks.
Providing the information necessary for the efficient functioning of markets.
General monitoring and forecasting of the economy.
Informing economic, social and environmental analyses.
Meeting international obligations to provide information about the performance of the economy and the well-being of the nation.
Labour market
Labour supply and demand, LF characteristics, employment/unemployment, underemployment, hours worked, employment in informal/formal sector, job creation and vacancies
Natural resources & the environment
Measures of sustainable economic growth, discovery/depletion and degradation of natural assets

4. A-P Capacity Screening
The greatest gap is in staff skills (based on 48 countries)
Information technology
39 countries have adequate IT systems for producing and disseminating the Core Set
Human resources
33 countries say human resources are inadequate
36 have conducted a recent skills assessment
32 have manuals/guidelines available to staff on their statistical processes
33 have internal processes (data editing, metadata documentation) documented for reference

5. What Resources Exist Skill based assessment resources
Technical/subject specific resources

6. Skill based assessment resources
SIAP Core Skills Framework (CSF)
-CSF Objective
Know what skills are required and decide on relevant training

7. Skill based assessment resources
In line with general division of work in NSO, following
Subject divisions identified:
Social statistics
Macro Economics
ICT

8. Skills Gap & Resources Knowing what skills are missing CSF Objective
SIAP Core Skills Framework (CSF)
CSF Objective
Know what skills are required and decide on relevant training
NSS, Staff and ESCAP support to skills development

9. Technical/subject specific resources
National Accounts-2008 SNA
Not everything is available
Special topics
Statistical Business Registers
Informal Economy/Employment
Measures of sustainable economic growth-SEEA

10. Technical/subject specific resources-Issues
Various materials based on workshops
Access Issues
Standardising Material
Curriculum Issues & Level
Localising Material
Training of Trainers

11. Technical/subject specific resources-What can be done?
Prices/Indices
Balance of Payments
Labour Force
Public Finance/Government
Various Price Indices-CPI, PPI, Trade & ICP, IIP
BPM6, IMTS, IIP
Special Topics in National Accounts
Supply and Use Tables
NOE, Capital Formation, Finance i.e Islamic Banking
Core basic skills for a statistician-data analysis, error detection, questionnaire design etc

12. Discussion Questions
Main Discussion Question: How can RPES best support sustainable, national training on economic statistics?
Reflective Questions
What has worked well regarding training in economic statistics in your country?
What are major risks to sustainable national training in economic statistics?
What do you think can make training more effective within your country?
What topics can you give priority?