Transcript Update of the Fifth Edition of the IMF’s Balance of

International Merchandise Trade Statistics
Course on Balance of Payments and
International Investment Position Manual
(BPM6)
IMF-PFTAC
Nadi
November 22-December 1, 2010
DM06
Discussion Outline
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International Merchandise Trade Statistics:
Reference Material
Systems – PCTrade, ASYCUDA
Challenges
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Coverage
Exports vs. imports
Experiences, good and bad
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Reference Material
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INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE STATISTICS:
CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS, 2010
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Approved by UNSC Feb 2010
Replaces 1998 manual Studies in Methods , Series M, No.52, Rev.2
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HTTP://UNSTATS.UN.ORG/UNSD/TRADE/EG-IMTS/IMTS%202010%20-
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%20AS%20SUBMITTED%20TO%20EDITOR.PDF
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INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE STATISTICS:
COMPILERS MANUAL, 2004
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Series: F, No. 87
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HTTP://UNSTATS.UN.ORG/UNSD/PUBLICATION/SERIESF/SERIESF_87E.PDF
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(There is also a supplement released Dec 2009, printed only)
Both are on the CD
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IMTS 2010
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Adopted by UNSC Feb 2010
Revision started by UNSC Feb 2008 due to:
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Changes in the way international merchandise trade is conducted, e.g. increasing
globalization, expansion of intra-firm trade, transactions with bundled goods and
services components
Changes in user needs - more detailed and timely data for market access negotiations
and trade policy purposes, market research, etc
Changes in the legal environment, e.g., Revised Kyoto Convention
Increasing use of non-customs data sources, e.g., members of a customs union
Changes in related statistical frameworks, e.g., SNA, BOP
Need for additional recommendations on data compilation strategies, quality and
metadata, and dissemination
Need for further clarification of some existing concepts and improvement of the
overall readability
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IMTS 2010 (2)
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Major conceptual difference – IMTS 2010 vs. BPM6
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IMTS is based on the general principle to record all goods that add to or
subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering
(imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory
BPM6 is based on the principle of change of ownership between residents
and nonresidents
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JAI Tunis/L2:6
IMTS 2010 Changed Recommendations (3)
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Trade below customs and statistical thresholds: Estimate and include if economically
significant
Change of ownership: Use as criteria for recording of certain goods only in exceptional
cases when the general guideline is not applicable or not sufficient
Specific guidelines: Include certain categories of goods, include and separately identify
(code)
Exclude but record separately: Exclude certain categories of goods but record them
separately for use in balance of payments and national accounts and other purpose
Media, whether or not recorded: Include at its full transaction value, except for media used
for carrying customized software or software written for a specific client or originals of any
nature, which should be excluded
Goods for processing with or without change of ownership: Include at their full (gross)
value
Goods for processing as well as goods resulting from such processing where no change of
ownership takes place: Include and explicitly identify (preferably by special coding) in your
trade statistics
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IMTS 2010 Changed Recommendations (4)
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Goods which cross borders as a result of transactions between related parties: Include and
separately identify (code)
Fish catch, minerals from the seabed and salvage; Bunkers, stores, ballast and dunnage:
Include all transaction not only the ones taking place inside and but also the ones taking
place outside the economic territory where economically or environmentally significant
Goods simply being transported through a country and Goods temporarily admitted or
dispatched: Exclude
Reimports and re-exports: Include and identify (code) separately for analytical purposes
Customs procedure codes: Make information about the customs procedure applied to
individual transactions part of the dataset for trade statistics
Statistical value: Record a statistical value for all goods covered in trade statistics, whether
sold, exchanged or provided without payment
Statistical value of exported and imported goods: Use free on board (FOB-type) valuation
for exports (border of the exporting county) and cost, insurance and freight (CIF-type)
valuation for imports (border of the importing country); countries are encouraged to compile
FOB-type value of imported goods as supplementary information
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IMTS 2010 Changed Recommendations (5)
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Compilation of data on freight and insurance: Countries which compile only CIF-type
values of imports are encouraged to compile separately data for freight and insurance, at the
most detailed commodity and partner level possible
Country of consignment: Record the country of consignment as the second partner country
attribution for imports alongside with country of origin; for exports the additional
compilation of the country of consignment is encouraged
Calculation of trade balances: Use imports by country of origin and exports by country of
last known destination
Compilation of mode of transport: Compile and disseminate international merchandise trade
statistics by mode of transport at the most detailed commodity level (as a new data
dimension)
Use of non customs records: Supplement customs based data with information obtained
from other sources, as necessary, to ensure full coverage of international merchandise trade
statistics. Use non-customs sources as substitutes for available customs records only if they
provide a cost effective way to improve quality of trade statistics
Systematic approach to data quality: Follow a systematic approach to data quality and
develop standards and related good practices covering the institutional arrangements, the
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statistical processes and outputs (the entire trade statistics program)
IMTS 2010 Changed Recommendations (6)
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Confidentiality rules: Use passive confidentiality as much as possible, unless the use of
active confidentiality is already the established, desired and accepted practice (passive =
only on request of trader and if justified by statistical authority’s confidentiality rules)
Data dissemination timetable: Announce in advance the precise dates at which the statistics
will be released and revised
Linking business and trade statistics: Integrate the trade register with the business register
and take steps towards an integrated system of economics statistics for data compilation and
analysis
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Systems and Processes
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PCTrade vs. ASYCUDA vs. CMS?
NZ support for PCTrade
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NZAid financing support provided by StatsNZ
continuing past June 2011
CMS new system for Tonga (private
company)
NZ Customs new system => Cook Islands
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Systems and Processes (2)
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Who captures ITS data?
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Customs Office vs. NSO?
Pros and cons
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Quality (accuracy, timeliness), control, resources
Does replacing the system fix the problems?
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Classifications
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HS07 – for collection of trade data
For analysis of data:
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BEC, SITC, CPC
ISIC for industry of origin
Concordances linking classifications
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MSITS 2010
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MANUAL ON STATISTICS OF INTERNATIONAL
TRADE IN SERVICES 2010
Draft presented to UNSC Feb 2010
Some further explanation of services for BOP and links to
other statistical frameworks
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