Transcript Compilation of Distributive Trade Statistics in African Countries Workshop for African countries on the implementation of International Recommendations for Distributive Trade Statistics 27-30 May.

Compilation of Distributive Trade Statistics
in African Countries
Workshop for African countries on the implementation of International
Recommendations for Distributive Trade Statistics
27-30 May 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
UNITED NATIONS STATISTICS DIVISION
Trade Statistics Branch
Distributive Trade Statistics Section
Overview
Two questionnaires sent by UNSD
prior to the workshop
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Distributive trade statistics: Compilation
practice (metadata)
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Seeks information on the institutional and
methodological framework for the compilation
of DTS, data sources, data compilation and
dissemination practices
Distributive trade statistics: Data
availability
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Does not seek real numbers, rather, asks
whether particular data items and
breakdowns are available
Purpose of DTS questionnaires
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To collect information of African countries
practices on DTS
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Look at the current situation with regard to the
international comparability of DTS
Identify challenges and good practices
To provide inputs for the preparation of future
manuals on DTS
To assess the capacity of African countries to
provide data for the future DTS data
questionnaire and pilot DTS database
Questionnaire on Compilation practice:
Major findings (1)
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Legal and institutional frameworks for the
compilation of DTS are in place in the majority
of respondent African countries
Methodological framework
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Half of the countries follow M57 or national
methodologies compatible with it
Dissemination and use of DTS
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One third of the countries do not publish DTS
Half of the countries produce and disseminate DTS
metadata
Questionnaire on Compilation practice:
Major findings (2)
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Registers, units, classifications
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Most of the countries have a business register,
concerns about its maintenance and up-to-date
coverage
Some of the countries use list frames for DTS
surveys
Establishment or enterprise are used as a unit in
DTS
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Most of the units in trade a single establishment
enterprises
This difference in country practices is taken into account in
IRDTS 2008
All countries use ISIC or national classifications
compatible with it as a classification of activities
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Different versions of ISIC have different scope of section G
Concerns about the international comparability of data
Questionnaire on Compilation practice:
Major findings (3)
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Data sources and data collection strategies
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Differences in survey approach among countries
New tendency of using administrative data sources is
emerging
Periodicity of DTS surveys in some countries is
problematic (when surveys are carried out at 5 years
or longer intervals of time)
Informal sector units
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Important for DTS in African countries
A small number of countries do not cover them at all or
cover only those in urban areas
Questionnaire on Compilation practice:
Major findings (4)
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Data items
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Performance indicators
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Data items for the calculation of distributive trade
output and VA are available mainly with annual
periodicity
Majority of countries have information about
inventories and GFCF
Employment data – available in all countries mainly
with annual periodicity
Only half of the countries compile some growth
rates and ratios for evaluating the performance of
distributive trade sector
DTS indices
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Compilation of indices - very challenging for African
countries
Questionnaire on Compilation practice:
Major challenges (1)
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Institutional
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Limited resources
Lack of cooperation from the statistical units
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General resistance from respondents including late
responding and refusals
Methodological
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Improper records keeping of units makes it
difficult to get accurate data
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Financial Statements are not always presented in a
format useful for deriving the necessary NA aggregates
Incorrect administrative data
Questionnaire on Compilation practice:
Major challenges (2)
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Organization of DTS surveys
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Not representative surveys, usually covering only
urban areas
Outdated business register makes it impossible to
conduct DTS surveys
Problems with tracing sampled units
Low response rate, frequent closure of businesses,
substitution, technical problems with weights and
inclusion of informal sector units
DTS in NA faces the problem of source data deficiency
Classification of units are not always existent or if
they do, may not be at the desired ISIC level
Shifts in classifications of units based on changing
activities
Questionnaire on Data availability:
Major findings (1)
Annual data
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By activity
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Most of the respondent countries have annual data
corresponding to the majority of data items indicated
except for gross output, gross margin and total value
added
Only about one third of the countries are able to supply
some annual information on GO, gross margin and total VA
By size class of enterprises
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About 2/3 of the countries had some statistics being
collected although not necessarily in all the recommended
size breakdown
Questionnaire on Data availability:
Major findings (2)
Annual data (cont.)
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Data items with no breakdown required
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Some data is available from a quarter of the
countries
For others it simply not being collected due to a
lack of resources or a different approach (e.g.,
commodity flow), lower ISIC revision, etc.
Quarterly data
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Available from 6 countries
Monthly data
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Available from only 3 countries
Questionnaire on Data availability:
Major challenges
Annual data
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Full scale international comparability is
unfeasible at this stage
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Absence of harmonized classifications
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Different versions of ISIC used
To help compilers of DTS, the UNSD will include a
transition key between ISIC, Rev.4 and previous versions
of ISIC in the DTS: Compilers Manual
Differences in the level of compilation of data items
Short-term statistics
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High priority should be given by African
countries to the development of quarterly and
monthly DTS, incl. development of appropriate
data sources
Thank You