Meeting of the African Group on National Accounts (AGNA)

on the Implementation of the 2008 System of National Accounts

PROGRESS REPORT

OF THE AFRICAN PROJECT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2008 SNA, PHASE I

ECA

12-15 May 2015

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Progress Report

PROGRESS REPORT of African Project on the Implementation of the 2008 SNA

PROJECT TITLE: African Project on the Implementation of the 2008 SNA

PROJECT DURATION: Phase I of the Project: Two Years (2014 – 2015)

REPORTING PERIOD COVERED: January 2014 – April 2015

FINANCIAL IMPLEMENTATION RATE (in % of the total budget)

SUMMARY OF IMPACT:

The African Project on the Implementation of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) was developed by the African Group on National Accounts (AGNA) under the umbrella of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa). The Project brings together Member States, Regional Economic Communities, pan-African Institutions (AfDB, AUC and ECA), Afristat and regional and international organizations and development partners to address the current challenges African countries face in producing timely and quality national accounts, in support of good economic governance, regional integration, and sustainable development.

The Inaugural Continental Steering Committee (CSC) Meeting for the African Project on the Implementation of the 2008 SNA was jointly organized by ECA, AUC and AfDB on 17-18 September 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The purpose of the meeting was to inaugurate the CSC and for the CSC to assume its role as the governing and decision making body of the African Project on the 2008 SNA. During the Inaugural CSC Meeting, the Terms of Reference of the CSC, Executive Board and Secretariat were reviewed and adopted; the project work plan and budget were reviewed and approved; and the implementation of the African Project was scheduled to begin in January 2014. As advised by the CSC, the African Project on the 2008 SNA was officially launched in January 2014.

Through a process of discussion and consultation among institutional stakeholders and Heads of National Accounts of African countries, a Project Implementation Plan (PIP) was developed as a coordination mechanism among stakeholders. The PIP outlines the activities with specific timeframes, as well as leading and responsible institutions for Phase I activities of the project to be implemented in 2014-15, namely: (i) Member States develop country plans and take actions; (ii) AfDB is the lead in the area of technical assistance; (iii) RECs and Afristat are leading in the area of institutional strengthening; (iv) ECA is the lead in compiling technical documents; (v) AUC is directing the advocacy campaign, and (vi) the Secretariat is in charge of coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.


1. REVIEW OF EXPECTEED ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES IN LINE WITH LOGFRAME MATRIX AS PER PROJECT DOCUMENT

While preparing the matrix, please ensure that the review includes all activities as per the approved project document, and clearly stating the activities which have been completed/accomplished and/or the activities which are under implementation (work-in-progress) in line with the Project Work plan).

A.  ACCOMPLISHMENTS(listed activities are based on the PIP)

EA1 / EA1. Improved capacities in production, analysis, and dissemination of national accounts in Member States
I.1.1: Quantitative Performance (Indicators related to EA1) / ·  IA1.1: 8 countries with thoroughly accessible administrative data sources for the 2008 SNA.
·  IA1.2: 8 countries applying modern IT tools for compiling.
·  IA1.3: 3 RECs with M&E framework to track SNA at Member States level.
·  IA1.4: 10 NSOs received capacity development to strengthen their governance structures and M&E system.
·  IA1.5: African Network of National Accountants (ANNA) established
Qualitative Results achieved for EA1: / Should describe additional results/ impact achieved in the area of EA1.
1. Country Plan and Actions
Activity 1.1: Formulate country implementation plan for the 2008 SNA / ·  As of March 2015, 22 countries reported to have already formulated country plans: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
·  16 countries are currently elaborating country plans: Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zambia.
Activity 1.2: Take follow-up actions to change over to the 2008 SNA / ·  Algeria: conduct of economic census and update of business repertory; business survey; household expense and consumption survey; survey of financial enterprises; work on classifications; started transition to BPM6 (Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual).
·  Angola: exhaustive identification of economic data sources; preparation of the questionnaires for administrative data collection; updating of the business register database, preparation of the samples for households surveys, based on preliminary results of the population and housing census carried out in 2014; database of households income and expenditure survey conducted in 2008/2009 available, preparation of livestock census.
·  Benin: the 2008 SNA implementation plan is incorporated to the NSDS 2008.
·  Botswana: a committee has been set up to come up with a 2008 SNA implementation strategy, expected to be put in place by June 2015.
·  Burkina Faso: A ProDoc to rebase national accounts and implement the 2008 SNA has been sent to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, who will finance this activity through 2014-16. These projects are part of the capacity building program with the IMF. IMF is providing technical assistance.
·  Burundi is conducting annual national agricultural survey since 2011/12; a formal non-profit enterprise survey is foreseen for 2015; adaptation of new classifications is programmed.
·  Cabo Verde: preparation of consumption budget survey that will take place in 2015 and will help the rebasing of consumer price index and national accounts.
·  Cameroon revised classifications of products and activities; a capacity building workshop has been organized for non-NSO experts; the fourth household survey is being conducted; an informal sector survey is programmed for 2015.
·  Central African Republic is reorganizing its national accounts department to facilitate the implementation of the 2008 SNA; several actions have been incorporated in the NSDS.
·  Cote d’Ivoire: classifications completed, studies on financial accounts in progress.
·  Egypt has defined a data protocol; had training for staff to improve skills in data analysis; is using and developing technology tools; has a strategy for publishing in line with international standards.
·  Ethiopia has rebased its GDP to 2010/11; made improvement on GDP – expenditure approach; planning to elaborate quarterly national accounts and supply and use tables; these improvements were all align with the 2008 SNA.
·  Gambia: currently conducting economic census that will provide a framework for economic surveys; a second phase is planned for mid-2015 including a gross output and intermediate consumption survey of sampled establishments.
·  Ghana: first phase of the integrated business establishment survey is near completition; business register to be produced in first quarter of 2015; trial agricultural census completed – main census activities to start in 2015; nem supply and use tables to be developed in first quarter of 2015; social accounting matrix to be developed in 2015; economic survey on informal sector and intermediate consumption to be implemented in 2016.
·  Kenya: implementation the 2008 SNA completed; work ongoing on improvements for the areas not implemented during the revision and rebasing of the national accounts; next revision, in which more improvements are planned, is scheduled for 2017; current revision process started in July 2014 and the base year will be updated to 2011; availability of new data sources including the 2013/14 Economic Activity Census – results released in March 2015.
·  Lesotho: Bureau of Statistics is engaged in the process of rebasing and revision of the national accounts estimates; method for calculating FISIM has been refined to comply with 2008 SNA; output of central banks has been clarified; definition of output of non-life insurance services has been improved; R&D is now included in the assets boundary; weapons systems is now included in the assets boundary; goods sent abroad for processing should not be recorded as imports and exports of goods –changes should be made in the revised estimates.
·  Liberia: conduct of Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) for the compilation of household GDP components and to derive new CPI basket; conduct of annual Businesses Registry update; implementation of the GFSM; adaptation of the ISIC rev 4 in the 2012 National Accounts Annual Survey (NAAS) to produce GDP based on the production approach; concluding the supply and use table and work to improve national accounts.
·  Madagascar published new classifications conform to the CITI rev 4 and the CPC 2.
·  Mauritius: working groups set up to work on implementation of recommendations; Joint implementation of SNA08, GFSM01, BPM6 and IMTS 2010.
·  Morocco is rebasing its GDP to 2007; introducing some major changes from the 2008 SNA; adapting surveys and administrative data sources for the needs of the new SNA; is applying adapted frameworks in order to back cast and change over to the 2008 SNA; FISIM will be calculated according to the 2008 SNA and will be allocated to users; central bank output will be measure; research and development, military expenses are treated as fixed capital formation.
·  Niger is adapting a national classification inspired by regional classifications; is analyzing the impact of changing over to the 2008 SNA; is rebasing to 2012; improving data sources in areas where information is not sufficient; exploiting survey data; implementing public finance (2001) and balance of payments manual (6); updating business repertory.
·  Senegal: adoption of a project approach; matrix of priority actions elaborated; a Project Document is being developed; financing from public resources; timeline of activities; technical assistance request formulated;
·  Seychelles has identified activities to implement the 2008 SNA; set priorities to graduate to the IMF SDDS by mid-2015; trained staff for compiling national accounts; made improvements in quarterly GDP production approach, PPI manufacturing, etc.; updated transition plans based on national priorities for 2016.
·  Sierra Leone: inclusion of the national action plan for the implementation of the 2008 SNA in the second generation NSDS (NSDS-2), being finalized with support from the World Bank, to be launched in January 2015; reclassification of the business register establishments is currently ongoing to change from ISIC rev3.1 to rev for code structure; household budget survey is being planned for 2016 starting from January-December.
·  Sudan: agriculture census; survey of household consumption; training on supply and use tables.
·  Swaziland has undertaken an economic census and acquired technical assistance from the IMF for rebasing and implementing some aspects of SNA2008.
·  Tanzania: classification of economic activities to the ISIC Rev. 4.
·  Zimbabwe:allocation of FISIM; adoption of ISIC REV 4 in some of our surveys; Work on SUT at an advanced stage.
·  To be completed
Activity 1.3: Collaborate with AGNA Members and Development partners to fill in the gaps / ·  ECA conducted a needs assessment survey to implement the 2008 SNA among Member States between December 2014 and March 2015. The report on technical assistance needs has been circulated among pan-African institutions and other partners, and ECA is currently conducting a survey on assistance provision to be filled by partners. One of the objective of the AGNA meeting in May 2015 is to match TA needs with supplies.
·  To be completed
2. Technical Assistance
Activity 2.1: Assist and support Member States to adopt and apply modern and country‐adapted IT tools / ·  Seminar on IT tools: organized by Eurostat, INSEE and AUC on 5 March 2015 in New York City at the 46th United Nations Statistical Commission. The seminar discussed the importance of IT tools for national accounts compilation, ERETES as an IT tool example, and countries that utilize ERETES shared their experiences. Insee and Eurostat expressed their interest in providing training and technical assistance to African countries that are planning to adopt ERETES.
·  INSEE: technical assistance on ERETES to Algeria, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger; proposal to extend ERETES training to English speaking countries – pilot project in Ghana to be launched in 2015.
·  To be completed
Activity 2.2: Launch assistance for countries lagging behind in the implementation of the 1993 SNA. / ·  AFRISTAT has its own strategy based on six pillars to implement the 2008 SNA in its Member States. The strategy has a progressive approach to consolidate knowledge and correct shortfalls. The six pillars are: (i) help Member States to migrate with success from the 1993 SNA to the 2008 SNA; (ii) reinforce institutional and organizational capacity of national accounts sections; (iii) assist countries to put in place an operational and efficient system to produce and analyse national accounts; (iv) develop an operational system for the publication of national accounts; (v) assist and monitor the implementation of the 2008 SNA; and (vi) coordinate assistance with other partners.
·  Training Workshop on the Implementation of the 2008 SNA (21-23 January 2014, Nouakchott, Mauritania) organized by ECA SRO-NA and ECA ACS. 31 participants from NSOs, Ministries of Planning and Central Banks of 11 francophone African countries.
·  Training on the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA): ECA in collaboration with GIZ and the United Nations Statistical Division organized a training program on SEEA for African countries: (i) an online training over 8 weeks and 5 modules during September-November 2014; (ii) an on-site workshop on 2-5 February 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. More than 20 African countries have participated and completed the online training course and on-site training workshop.
·  Seminar on Supply and Use Table: IMF AFRITAC South conducted a seminar on Supply and Use table for Member States on 10-14 November 2014 in Mauritius. The seminar broadened the knowledge of national accountants on the Supply and Use and Input-Output table framework.
·  Workshop on the preparation of quarterly national accounts: IMF AFRITAC Central jointly with AFRITAC West and AFRISTAT held a workshop on the harmonization of working methods and international standards for the preparation of national accounts on 19-23 January 2015 in Bamako, Mali for national accountants from 9 Member States.
·  Seminar on quarterly GDP: IMF AFRITAC South organized a seminar on quarterly GDP for Member States on 16-20 March 2015 in Mauritius. The seminar consisted of lectures and workshop sessions covering methodological and compilation issues for quarterly GDP at current and constant prices, including sources and compilation procedures on the production and expenditure side based on the 2008 SNA and the IMF Quarterly National Accounts Manual 2001.