1. Overview Programme Objectives & Milestones
Session 2: Status of Programme Implementation
7th meeting of the SGRPES
Bangkok, Thailand | 10 May 2018

2. Outline
Objectives of RPES
Phases and Milestones
Key Discussion Points

3. Objectives of RPES, a recap

4. Why does RPES aim to achieve?
The Regional Programme on Economic Statistics's (2010) key goal is to increase capacity of Asia Pacific countries to produce basic economic statistics
What is RPES? (2010)
A capacity building framework for Asia-Pacific countries with its scope determined by the Core Set of Economic Statistics
What is RPES mandate?
RPES and its Core Set were designed by countries and development partners at the request of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics in 2009
The programme and its Core Set were endorsed by the Committee on Statistics in 2010, i.e. the heads of NSOs
Why does RPES aim to achieve?
Platform for coordination facilitating planned/concerted actions towards the Asia-Pacific countries having the capacity to produce basic economic statistics within a common reference framework (i.e. the Core Set) by 2020.

5. Goal: Improved soundness of economic analysis & decision making through increased availability and effective use of timely, reliable and comparable economic statistics
Outcome 2020: NSSs in Asia-Pacific have capacity to produce & disseminate the Core Set in line with international standards
Advocacy
Advocacy
Coordination
Outputs:
Each of these outputs are achieved through activities at the national and regional level.
Advocacy (creating awareness among/between NSSs and development partners for working together towards the building of capacity for producing the Core Set)
Coordination (benchmarking of capacity levels and planning for improving capacity and for producing the Core Set)
Statistical Infrastructure (methods and processes improved for producing the Core Set)
Skills (staff is trained with the skills needed to produce the Core Set)
The activities contribute to the achievement of multiple outputs. The links are clearer horizontally but it is the case for all outputs, e.g. improved infrastructure across the providers of economic statistics in line with international standards is conducive to better coordination—this can be thought of in terms of hard infrastructure but also in terms of business processes, quality assurance, etc.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Skills

6. We have defined together a 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
Income & wealth
NA for economy/by sector to measure income, savings, investment, wealth; BoP to measure international income and capital flows, IIP and external debt
Money & banking
Assets and liabilities of banking sector, monetary measures and interest rates
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.
Government
Public revenue, expenditure, borrowing and lending, government accounts
Labour market
Labour supply & demand, LF characteristics, employment & unemployment, underemployment, hours worked, employment in informal & formal sector, job creation, vacancies
Natural resources & environment
Measures of sustainable economic growth, discovery/depletion and degradation of natural assets

7. Constraints identified by 2nd SGREPS
Lack of clear division of work across different parts of the NSS and a need for statistical legislation and better coordination
Need for greater statistical advocacy / political support for the NSS
Need for improved human resource capacities, including improved technical skills through training
Need for further development of key elements of the national statistical infrastructure,
Four Categories of RPES Outputs came out of these constraints
Basis for Implementation Plan

8. Phases and Milestones

9. Where we are and Where we are going
Preparatory
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Regional implementation plan
Country assessments
Alignment with other initiatives
Partnership agreements
Regional governance
Advocacy for basic statistics for macro frameworks
Coordination efforts enhanced with partners and among national agencies
Focus: Business registers
Focus: SNA and BR
Resource Mobilization
Enhance advocacy at national level
Links to other (subregional or statistical output) programmes, national plans
Focus: BRs, Quality
Develop training on Core Set components and support national training
Detailed monitoring framework
Advocacy
Coordination
Infrastructure
Skills
These activities take place at the regional and national levels. The Implementation Plan does not give details for Phases 2 and 3.
Programme Management
2011
2013
2015
2017
2020
Today
12/8/2018

10. Recap the recommendations made in 3rd -6th SGs
12/8/2018

11. 3rd Meeting called for improved coordination
at regional and national level
At the regional level
At the national level
Address cross-cutting issues in cooperation with other domain-specific regional initiatives
Strengthen links between RPES & subregional strategies
Build links between RPES & mandates of development partners
Establish mechanisms for coordinating economic statistics producers
Involve national agencies beyond the NSO in skills building
Cross-cutting issues: concerning institutional and organizational aspects of data production and dissemination
Emphasis on the lack of institutional guidelines for coordination at the national statistical system level

12. 3rd Meeting & CS identified 4 substantive priorities1 2
Labour/employment statistics
Household income/expenditure statistics 3 4
Structural business statistics/BRs
Measurement of natural resources

13. 4th Meeting (March 2015)
Lack full information for national capacity monitoring
Lack of clear guidelines for the “national economic statistics development plans”
Common approach to linking RPES up with statistical output-oriented programmes (SNA, SDGs, trade statistics, etc.)

14. Issues Out of 4th Meeting
Develop advocacy materials from the user perspective (Advocacy)
Develop enhanced capacity screening questionnaire (Infrastructure)
Draft TORs for any working groups for the development of tools/guidelines as advised by the Coordinating Committee (Skills)
Develop training materials and training concepts for the Core Set components where there is a need (Skills)
Conduct skills needs assessments covering all economic statistics providers in the national statistical system (Skills)

15. 5th Meeting (May 2016)
Agreed to have APES as an annual event with SGREP actively involved in its organisation through a task force
Agreed to work with The Network to enhance training development and delivery
Made suggestions to improve the capacity screening tool
Recommended establishing an SDG related taskforce

16. 6th Meeting (May 2017)
Work program of the four taskforces decided with expectation of reporting activities at the 7th meeting
Recommended to collaboration with The Network in economic statistics training
Identified topics for potential new taskforces of the future
Explored idea of wide dissemination of capacity screening results at country, sub-regional and regional levels

17. Key Discussion Points
Programme Impact and Relevence
Programm Efficiency and Effectiveness
Recommendations for Phase
Work Arrangements/Leadership
Issues for the 6th Committee