Organization of Economic Statistics

Statistics South Africa

SCOPE OF ECONOMIC STATISTICS

• Macro Economy with exception of trade in goods and services, and investment capital flows.

• Informal Sector

• Labour Statistics

• Income and Expenditure

• Poverty

Conceptual Framework for Economic Data Collection

• 1) National accounts – as an intermediate user, rather than final user (or GDP side of national accounts) – defines the primary framework for economic data collection.

• 2) National accounts, in collaboration with source data, defines the priorities of Economic Statistics primarily though its concern with the quality of GDP.

• 3) Identifying broader priorities beyond national accounts considerations, specifically micro economic analysis.

Thrust of Economic Statistics

• Level and movement of GDP

• Timeliness – Quarterly GDP and Annual

• Surveys organized to meet these objectives.

• Real changes in GDP – CPI and PPI

• Increasing user needs beyond GDP

Stats SA and SARB

High Level of co-ordination and co-operation

Unusual division of labour

StatSA responsible for estimating GDP from the production side

SARB estimates from the expenditure side?

Has various implications for further division of labour

SARB – Expenditure Side

• Estimates of GDP annually and quarterly. • Income and outlay accounts for institutional sectors,

annually for corporations, annually and quarterly for general government and households.

• Balance of payments, annually and quarterly • Financial accounts (flow of funds), annually and quarterly• SARB monitors the estimates of GDP from the produc

tion side by making their own estimates although not as detailed as Stats SA.

• compiles all the basic and detailed data and the production account for the finance and insurance industries and for the general government sector.

Government Accounts• With the exception of municipal data, the SARB obtains and

estimate all other levels of government on a quarterly basis. This information is required for their GDP estimates (as calculated by the SARB).

•  • The SARB quarterly bulletin also has tables on the finances of all

levels of government (income and expenditure); cash-flow statements, ownership of government debt, ets – Stats SA does not collect this type of information.

•  • For the purposes of compiling the National financial account, the

SARB also obtains information from various sectors (foreign, monetary, Public Investment Commission, etc).

•  

Backbone of Annual GDP

• Breadth • An annual sample survey covering the

formal market sector of the South African economy (Annual Financial Survey)

• Financial data sufficient for the calculation of industry value added and gross profit, as well as some balance sheet items.

• broad level of industry detail [1 and 2 digit SIC].

LSS

Depth • The Large Sample Surveys [LSS] programme

comprises a rolling set of industry surveys covering most industry sectors of the formal market economy every 3-4 years.

• Greater industry detail (but the financial data set is the same)

• LSS programme also collects value data [and quantity where appropriate] for product [goods and services].

Quarterly GDP

• QFS ( more relevant to quarterly revisions)

• Various monthly indicators critical to quarterly GDP

• Increasing monthly indicators specifically in services