## _cr1442 ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [_cr1442](https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/_cr1442.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/_cr1442.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/_cr1442.pdf.json) --- ### Overall assessment: scope and context - Reassessment of the 1999–mid-2000 exercise; first data ROSC based on the Data Quality Assessment Framework 2012 (DQAF 2012). - Datasets covered: national accounts (CBU), consumer price index (CPI) (NIS), producer price index (PPI) (NIS). - 2012 DQAF benchmarks: System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA), Consumer Price Index Manual 2004 (CPI Manual), Producer Price Index Manual 2004 (PPI Manual). - SDDS subscription: Uruguay subscribed to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on February 12, 2004. The 2011 SDDS annual report: Uruguay met SDDS requirements for timeliness with episodic exceptions. - Current SDDS flexibility use: - two regular timeliness flexibility options for general government operations and central government operations; - an “as relevant” timeliness provision for analytical accounts of the banking sector for countries with extensive branch banking systems; - no flexibility options used regarding real sector statistics. ### Main conclusions and data-quality dimensions - General: Uruguay’s macroeconomic statistics are generally of good quality and adequately meet users’ needs; significant methodological and dissemination improvements since 1999. - Legal/institutional: - CBU has technical, administrative, and financial autonomy; Charter does not explicitly assign responsibility for compiling national accounts statistics. - NIS is the public body responsible for national statistics; resources are very limited. - Prerequisites and staffing: - Quality awareness in CBU’s 2010–2014 Strategic Plan and 2012 Strategic Initiatives. - Staffing constraints: Economic Statistics Area (ESA) has 10 vacancies, representing over 50 percent of its analysts. - Recruitment into Civil Service slowed hiring at NIS and CBU; retention is a challenge for NIS. - Institutional integrity and transparency: - High level of trust among users for impartiality and technical soundness. - Both agencies could give more advance notice of methodological changes; neither regularly comments on erroneous interpretation or misuse of statistics. - Methodological soundness — principal exceptions: - CPI excludes implicit rent / net acquisitions of owner-occupied dwellings. - PPI excludes services and exported output. - Industrial activity classification: ISIC, Rev. 3 in use; need to plan adoption of ISIC, Rev. 4 and 2008 SNA. - Product classification: national extension of ISIC, Rev. 3 rather than CPC Ver. 2. - Accuracy and reliability: - National accounts built on a good core system but need improved source data and validation. - Fixed input-output ratios from 1997 underpin about 60 percent of the GDP calculation. - Household consumption not independently derived; changes in inventories largely obtained as residuals. - Detailed national accounts data only available up to 2008 on CBU website. - Revisions and serviceability: - Major revision studies performed when changing base year; regular revisions not analyzed to detect bias. - CPI and PPI weight-update impacts are not analyzed. - Periodicity and timeliness meet SDDS standards. - No monthly index of economic activity is publicly disseminated. - Accessibility: - CBU and NIS score well on data and descriptive metadata accessibility and user assistance, but more regular revision studies and user engagement recommended. ### Assessment by agency and dataset — selected DQAF element ratings (key entries preserved) - Rating key: O = Practice Observed; LO = Practice Largely Observed; LNO = Practice Largely Not Observed; NO = Practice Not Observed; NA = Not Applicable. - Selected entries (National Accounts / CPI / PPI): - 0.1 Legal and institutional environment: LO / O / O - 0.2 Resources: LNO / LNO / LNO - 0.3 Relevance: LNO / LNO / LNO - 0.4 Other quality management: O / LO / LO - 1.1 Institutional integrity: LO / LO / LO - 1.2 Transparency: LO / LO / LO - 1.3 Ethical standards: O / O / O - 2.1 Concepts and definitions: LO / O / LO - 2.2 Scope: LO / LO / LNO - 3.1 Source data: LNO / LO / O - 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs: O / LNO / LNO - 3.5 Revision studies: LO / NO / NO - 4.1 Periodicity and timeliness: O / O / O - 5.1 Data accessibility: LO / O / O - 5.2 Metadata accessibility: O / LO / LO - 5.3 Assistance to users: LO / O / O ### Key data-quality findings and exact statistics - SDDS subscription date: February 12, 2004. - 2011 SDDS annual report finding: Uruguay met SDDS requirements for timeliness with episodic exceptions. - CBU strategic references: 2010–2014 Strategic Plan and 2012 Strategic Initiatives. - ESA staffing: 10 vacancies, representing over 50 percent of its analysts. - Fixed input-output ratios vintage: 1997 underpin about 60 percent of GDP calculation. - Availability of detailed national accounts data on CBU website: only up to 2008. - Household expenditure survey frequency: about once a decade. ### Cross-cutting recommendations — High priority - Ensure the NIS has adequate financial resources, staff, facilities, and training; increase retention of qualified staff. - Make legal framework for hiring/contracting staff at NIS and CBU more flexible to accelerate filling vacancies with technical qualifications in economic statistics. - Sign an agreement between CBU and MEF to allow CBU access to income tax records by economic activity to improve national accounts coverage and compile integrated economic accounts by institutional sector. - Expedite filling of the ten vacancies in the CBU Economic Statistics Area; additional staff needed for changing base year and implementing 2008 SNA. - Conduct a new household Income and Expenditure Survey every five years to strengthen household final consumption expenditure estimates and update CPI weights. ### Cross-cutting recommendations — Other - Initiate regular consultations with public and private sector users; establish users’ groups and an advisory committee that includes academics, private sector analysts, and producers’ associations (e.g., meet twice a year). - Announce in advance any planned changes in concepts and methodology; invite user feedback before major changes. - Periodically analyze data requests and comments from users to improve service. - Initiate an employee rotation program to enhance versatility and redundancy of skills in statistical units. ### National Accounts — High priority recommendations - Update base year of national accounts and develop plan for implementing 2008 SNA with a clear timetable. - Update business register regularly. ### National Accounts — Other recommendations (selected) - Review and update classification by economic activity of the business register (from income tax records) and provide improved version to MEF. - Adapt CBU ESA functions to integrated organization by institutional sector to compile SUT and integrated economic accounts by sector. - Apply ISIC Rev. 4 and CPC Ver. 2; apply COICOP for household consumption and COFOG for government final consumption. - Increase level of detail of disseminated national accounts data to three digits of ISIC. - Improve estimates of nonobserved activities using household income data. - Consider using chain indices for volume measures. - Reconstruct historical series when changing base year; disseminate linked series for 1997–2011. - Include an expenditure module every two to three years in permanent household survey. - Improve coverage of surveys (construction, domestic trade, services) to 80 percent of economic activity. - Use monthly VAT data by economic activity to improve quarterly estimates coverage. - Conduct quarterly survey on sales of services and inventories. - Improve monthly index of economic activity coverage and dissemination. - Use double deflation/inflation method to main inputs and outputs quarterly. - Explain current data revisions to users. ### CPI — High priority recommendations - Incorporate owner-occupied housing in the CPI. - Establish a regular cycle for updating the CPI basket on a timely basis. ### CPI — Other recommendations - Use basket updates to comprehensively review CPI procedures and refresh product sample. - Study differences between household expenditure survey and national accounts household consumption expenditure; consider using national accounts as source/control for CPI weights with advantages for coherence and timeliness of weights. - Improve analytical capacity of NIS CPI unit. - Institute more data confrontation-type analysis for validation using alternative data sources. - Conduct new household Income and Expenditure Survey every five years. ### PPI — High priority recommendations - Establish a regular calendar for updating the PPI, with an update cycle of no more than five years. - Add additional economists/statisticians to PPI staff. - Institute more data confrontation-type analysis and analysis of third-party data used in the PPI. ### PPI — Other recommendations - Expand scope to include utilities, services, construction, and products destined for export (international standard). - Consider delaying release of PPI one or two weeks after reference month to allow more time for analysis (current timeliness may constrain validation). ### SDDS Appendix — selected entries (codes preserved) - National accounts: Coverage — Yes; Periodicity/Timeliness — QQQ3M - Production index/indices: SDDS — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity — M; Uruguay Timeliness — 48D - Employment: Coverage — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity/Timeliness — QMQ5W - Unemployment: Coverage — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity/Timeliness — QMQ5W - Wages/earnings: Coverage — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity/Timeliness — QMQ5W - Consumer price index: Coverage — Yes; SDDS periodicity MMMNLT; Uruguay Timeliness — 5D - Producer price index: Coverage — Yes; SDDS periodicity MMM1D ### Institutional and legal specifics — CBU focus (Dimensions 0 and 1) - CBU Charter: Law 16,696 (March 1995) and modification Law 18,401 (October 2008); provisions on secrecy (Article 21) and power to require information (Article 55). - Data collection enforcement: CBU may impose fines for failure to supply required information: - legal persons: between 10,000 IU and 20,000 IU; - natural persons: 4,000 IU. - Payment of the fine does not exempt submission; fines are not used to reduce nonresponse on national accounts collections owing to administrative cost for the CBU. - Coordination issues: duplication of effort in source data collection; CBU excluded from access to individual tax records for statistical purposes under tributary secrecy provision; framework agreement NIS-CBU exists for access to microdata released by NIS. - Data collection mode: questionnaires filled online; respondents consulted in case of inconsistencies. ### Institutional and legal specifics — NIS focus (Dimensions 0 and 1) - Statistics Law No. 16,616 (October 20, 1994): establishes National Statistical System (NSS), NIS functions, statistical confidentiality (Article 3), mandatory provision of data (Article 14), fines (NIS-determined between 20 IU and 50 IU). - NIS functions include compiling CPI and PPI, coordinating NSS, establishing technical standards, disseminating data, and training. - Confidentiality and disclosure rules: Articles 16–19 detail allowable disclosures (aggregate, microdata without identity, conditions for transfer to other NSS members). - NIS questionnaires include confidentiality notices; electronic surveys use individual passwords. - NIS staffing challenges: hiring and retention constrained by civil service arrangements; only one university offers statistics program with about 30 graduates in last 8–10 years. ### Resources — exact staff and equipment findings - ESA of CBU: 16 staff total; technical staff number is 12; 4 supervisors and 1 administrative assistant among the 4 nontechnical. - Vacancies: ESA and NIS currently have 10 and 8 vacancies, respectively. - ESA staff experience: on average more than 15 years compiling national accounts; more than one-third have 30 or more years; approximately one-fourth have post-graduate degrees. - CPI staff: 12 full-time people compile/administer/manage CPI; 17 price collectors (10 in Montevideo, 7 in other urban areas) collecting over 40,000 prices a month. - PPI (IPPN) staffing: one full-time person for administration, another part-time person for analysis, and a part-time supervisor; plan to add students (four advanced students joined in August 2013; ten more students expected in October 2013). - Computing resources: CBU uses Microsoft Office, eViews WORK BENCH, SPSSv20, Win X-12 ARIMA, ORACLE databases; daily backups. - Budget note: base year compilation additional cost was $350,000 spent by the CBU. ### Source-data coverage statistics (selected exact figures) - Coverage of total value added by all data sources: around 56 percent. - Coverage of source data for annual GDP: 54 percent in 2005; 55 percent in 2008. - Coverage of source data for quarterly GDP: 48 percent in 2005 (base year); 51 percent in 2011. - Coverage of source data for monthly index of economic activity: 22 percent in 2005 (base year); 24 percent in 2011. - Selected industry weights and available source data (Annual and Monthly examples preserved as presented): - AGRICULTURE, HUNTING AND FORESTRY — Annual weight(s): 8.5% 6.9%; Annual available source data: 94.9% 95.2%; Monthly weight(s): 8.5% 6.3%; Monthly available source data: 94.9%95.9% - MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES — Annual weight(s): 14.9% 15.3%; Annual available source data: 54.3%59.7%; Monthly weight(s): 14.9%13.1%; Monthly available source data: 54.3%59.0% - CONSTRUCTION — Annual weight(s): 5.5% 5.6%; Annual available source data: 20.2%27.4%; Monthly available source data: 6.5%4.4% - COMMUNICATIONS — Annual weight(s): 3.2% 6.4%; Annual available source data: 86.9%80.9%; Monthly weight(s): 3.2%9.7%; Monthly available source data: 82.2%89.4% - FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION — Annual weight(s): 5.4% 4.8%; Annual available source data: 85.8%86.0%; Monthly weight(s): 5.4%5.5%; Monthly available source data: 0.0%0.0% - GDP — Weights: 100.0% 100.0%; Annual available source data: 54.2%54.8%; Quarterly available source data: 47.9%50.9%; Monthly available source data: 22.0%24.2% ### Validation, seasonal adjustment, and revisions — national accounts - Quarterly data are benchmarked and seasonally adjusted; X-12 ARIMA used. - Chain indices are not used for GDP volume measures (CBU plans to change). - Supply and use framework used to investigate discrepancies; last available SUT is from 2008. - Major revision studies made when changing base year; regular revisions not analyzed to detect bias. - Quarterly GDP estimates disseminated 75 days after end of reference quarter; annual GDP disseminated within three months after end of reference year. - Quarterly GDP by expenditure at current prices not compiled; Uruguay disseminates annual but not quarterly GDP by expenditure at current prices. - No regular schedule for updating national accounts base year; current revisions have a regular schedule but causes of current revisions not explained to users. ### CPI — methodological and serviceability specifics (exact practices) - CPI compiled following Consumer Price Index Manual 2004; 375 products in basket; base period December 2010 = 100. - Coverage: all resident urban households at national level (urban Montevideo and other urban areas); excludes imputed owner-occupied housing and illegal/used goods. - Weights: based on 2005–2006 Household Expenditure and Income Survey, supplemented with national accounts. - Price survey includes electronic point of sale (scanner) data; CPI produced monthly and released on the second business day of the month following the reference month (published at 2 p.m. on posted release dates). - CPI treated as final and not subject to revision; weight and basket updates not on a regular schedule. - CPI elementary aggregates use the geometric mean formula; CPI is a Laspeyres price index; imputation methods used for missing, seasonal, and new products. - CPI intermediate and final outputs are not routinely validated with alternative sources; reselection of detailed product sample has not been done for an extended period. - CPI data dissemination: monthly data since March 1997 on NIS website; certain institutional users can access data up to two hours prior to official release; interbank network and Diario Oficial publication used. ### PPI — methodological and accessibility specifics (exact practices) - PPI compiled by NIS following Producer Price Index Manual 2004; base and reference period March 2010 = 100. - Scope: gross output of agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, fishing, mining and quarrying, and manufacturing; excludes services, utilities, construction, and exported output (recommendation to expand). - Price reference is the tenth of the month; PPI produced monthly and released on the day before the last day of the reference month (high timeliness). - PPI uses Laspeyres formula; product selection based on sample survey of specifications; coverage of ISIC A–D output at least 90 percent. - PPI source weights drawn from supply-and-use tables compiled from CBU; data from secondary sources not routinely validated. - PPI aggregates available at class, group, division, and industry levels (Uruguay’s ISIC Rev.3 adaptation); no seasonally-adjusted data produced. - PPI revision policy: index is not revised; no revision studies performed; weight and basket updates not scheduled. ### Implementation status and authorities’ responses — selected exact actions and dates - Legal access to tax records: Law 18.996 approved on November 7, 2012 allowing tax-record information use for statistical purposes by directing authority of NSS enabling use by NIS and CBU. - CBU vacancies: eight of ten vacancies in ESA filled in July and August 2013; remaining two expected to be filled by end of this year; additional temporary staff expected next year. - CBU strategic action: On July 10, 2013 CBU approved RD 173-2013 a new PLAE for 2013–2019 including adoption of 2008 SNA and BPM6, a new base year, and harmonization. - Business register updates: NIS updates the business register annually using social security contributions register and tax revenues register; last update in July 2013 with data from December 2012. - CPI/PPI staffing/actions: NIS recruited advisers and students in 2013 to strengthen CPI and PPI teams; CPI staff increase occurred in 2013 and further staff expected during the year. - Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Uruguay is considering moving to every five years; NIS working on raising funds for a new survey and will assess feasibility of repeating every five years. - CBU user engagement: users’ survey scheduled for November 2013; working papers to be released regularly under RD 173-2013 to inform users in advance. ### National accounts — implementation of specific recommendations (items 15–27) — status highlights - 15 (increase 3-digit detail): New industry classification for new reference year has taken this recommendation into account. - 16 (improve non-observed activities estimates): Phase 0 of PLAE 2013–2019 includes Employment Matrix to be based on permanent household surveys and 2011 census. - 17 (chain indices): PLAE 2013–2019 will estimate chained volume measures for series 2012 and ahead. - 18 (reconstruct historical series): Will be considered, probably linking new series with previous ones since 2005 or since 1997; availability of information to be evaluated under PLAE 2013–2019. - 19 (apply ISIC Rev.4 to household survey): ISIC Rev. 4 already in use in permanent household survey; inclusion of expenditure module every three years to be evaluated. - 20 (improve survey coverage to 80%): New Annual Economic Activity Survey being implemented by NIS with partial CBU funding; new Big Constructions Survey began February 2013 with CBU funding. - 21 (use monthly VAT data): Monthly VAT statistic produced by tax office currently available; limitations on classification and coverage noted; VAT figures used as parameters to monitor results. - 24 (review Economic Survey for inputs/outputs and CPC coding): Included in design of new Annual Economic Activity Survey. - 25–26 (double deflation; inventories): Improvements to be implemented for new series under PLAE 2013–2019. - 27 (explain data revisions): CBU started new policy of user consultations; first consultation scheduled for next November to help explain revisions. ### CPI — implementation status (items 28–33) - 28 (incorporate owner-occupied housing): Recognized relevance; to be analyzed with CBU and national authorities for next base index. - 29 (regular CPI basket cycle): Institute recognizes relevance; timeline constrained by necessity of government approval for expenditure survey; estimated not possible under existing conditions without government approval. - 30–33 (use basket update to review methods; study differences with national accounts; improve CPI unit capacity; institute more confrontation analysis): Status: basket update will be undertaken when new household expenditure survey approved; staff increases in 2013 expected to strengthen analytical capacity; arbitration between income/expenditure surveys and national accounts used in last base change and expected to be applied again. ### PPI — implementation status (items 34–36 and others) - 34 (regular calendar ≤ 5 years): Institute recognizes relevance; future timeline should be established. - 35 (add staff): Four advanced economics students and one statistics student joined NIS in August 2013; ten more students expected in October 2013. - 36 (more confrontation-type analysis): To be taken into account as team is strengthened. - Other PPI actions: plan to change base in conjunction with physical volume indicator to set 2015 as new joint base; seeks to extend coverage to recommended sectors and destinations and establish periodicity of future base changes. ### User feedback and mission findings (selected) - Users’ survey (14 respondents) and meetings: majority satisfied with methodological soundness, accessibility, and frequency of national accounts and price statistics; identified needs: - GDP data by economic activity too aggregated, especially domestic trade and services. - Fixed capital formation by economic activity not compiled. - Monthly index of economic activity not disseminated. - Quarterly seasonally-adjusted GDP does not include calendar effect. - Need for longer and more detailed national accounts time series, explanations of significant data revisions and price changes, regional GDP, income generation and distribution. *Source: Data Quality Assessment Framework 2012—Summary Results (ROSC—Data Module) for Uruguay; excerpts from Uruguay — Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module (Detailed assessments using the Data Quality Assessment Framework), January 2014.* ### 1. Data Quality Assessment Framework 2012—Summary Results _________________________________ 8 ### 1. Data Quality Assessment Framework 2012—Summary Results ### Overall assessment: scope and context - This Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module is a reassessment of the exercise conducted in 1999–mid-2000 and is the first data ROSC based on the 2012 version of the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF). - Datasets covered: national accounts (CBU), consumer price index (CPI) (NIS), and producer price index (PPI) (NIS). - The 2012 DQAF assessment benchmarks practices against the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA), the Consumer Price Index Manual 2004 (CPI Manual), and the Producer Price Index Manual 2004 (PPI Manual). - Uruguay subscribed to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on February 12, 2004, and since subscription has been in observance of the SDDS; the 2011 SDDS annual report noted Uruguay met SDDS requirements for timeliness with episodic exceptions for some data categories. - Current SDDS flexibility use: - two regular timeliness flexibility options for general government operations and central government operations; - an “as relevant” timeliness provision for analytical accounts of the banking sector for countries with extensive branch banking systems; - no flexibility options are being used regarding real sector statistics. ### Main conclusions on data quality dimensions (narrative) - Uruguay’s macroeconomic statistics are generally of good quality and adequately meet users’ needs. - Significant improvements since 1999 in methodological and dissemination aspects of national accounts and price statistics; updates to coverage, weights, and base period have been implemented. - Legal and institutional basis: - Central Bank of Uruguay (CBU) has technical, administrative, and financial autonomy; however, no explicit legal provision assigns the CBU responsibility for compiling national accounts statistics. - National Institute of Statistics (NIS) is the public body responsible for national statistics; resources are very limited to perform its broad functions. - Prerequisites and staffing: - Quality awareness and quality management processes are included in the CBU’s 2010–2014 Strategic Plan and 2012 Strategic Initiatives. - Staffing allocated to the Economic Statistics Area (ESA) is limited; recruitment into the Civil Service has slowed staffing at both NIS and CBU and retention is a challenge for the NIS. - Institutional integrity and transparency: - CBU and NIS possess a high level of “trust capital” among users for impartiality and technical soundness. - Both agencies could give users more advance notice of methodological changes; neither regularly comments on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics. - Methodological soundness: - National accounts conform with the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA); CPI and PPI broadly conform with international guidance (CPI Manual 2004; Practical Guide to Producing Consumer Price Indices 2009; PPI Manual 2004). - Principal exceptions: - CPI does not cover implicit rent or net acquisitions of owner-occupied dwellings. - PPI does not cover services and exported output. - Industrial activity classification: ISIC, Rev. 3; need to plan adoption of ISIC, Rev. 4 and 2008 SNA. - Product classification follows a national extension of ISIC, Rev. 3 rather than the Central Product Classification. - Basis for recording follows 1993 and 2008 SNA except some government revenue/expenditure components recorded on cash and obligation bases respectively. - Accuracy and reliability: - National accounts built on a good core system but need improvements in source data (business register maintenance, infrequent household expenditure surveys, incomplete coverage of private nonfinancial enterprises). - About 60 percent of the GDP calculation is based on fixed input-output ratios from 1997. - Household consumption is not independently derived; changes in inventories largely obtained as residuals. - Uruguay disseminates annual but not quarterly GDP by the expenditure approach at current prices and does not compile annual integrated economic accounts by institutional sector (notably the generation of income account). - CPI and PPI source data: - CPI and PPI rate well for source data due to well-designed surveys and advanced data capture technologies. - CPI reselection of detailed product sample has not been done for an extended period. - Statistical outputs/intermediate results for CPI and PPI are not routinely validated with alternative sources. - The NIS’s limited staffing has affected validation practices for secondary source data used in the PPI. - Revisions and serviceability: - Major revision studies for national accounts are done when changing the base year, but regular revisions are not analyzed to detect bias. - Impacts of weight updates for CPI and PPI are not analyzed. - Periodicity and timeliness meet SDDS standards. - Detailed national accounts data are only available up to 2008; long-time series are not available on the CBU website. - No regular schedule for updating the national accounts base year; causes of current revisions are not explained to users. - No monthly index of economic activity is disseminated. - CPI and PPI would benefit from more regular and frequent weight update schedules. - Accessibility: - CBU and NIS score well on data and descriptive metadata accessibility and on providing user assistance. - Both agencies could undertake more regular revision studies and engage users more fully. ### Assessment by agency and dataset: summary ratings (DQAF elements) - Rating key used: O = Practice Observed; LO = Practice Largely Observed; LNO = Practice Largely Not Observed; NO = Practice Not Observed; NA = Not Applicable. - Selected entries from Table 1 (Datasets: National Accounts / CPI / PPI): - 0.1 Legal and institutional environment: LO / O / O - 0.2 Resources: LNO / LNO / LNO - 0.3 Relevance: LNO / LNO / LNO - 0.4 Other quality management: O / LO / LO - 1.1 Institutional integrity: LO / LO / LO - 1.2 Transparency: LO / LO / LO - 1.3 Ethical standards: O / O / O - 2.1 Concepts and definitions: LO / O / LO - 2.2 Scope: LO / LO / LNO - 3.1 Source data: LNO / LO / O - 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs: O / LNO / LNO - 3.5 Revision studies: LO / NO / NO - 4.1 Periodicity and timeliness: O / O / O - 5.1 Data accessibility: LO / O / O - 5.2 Metadata accessibility: O / LO / LO - 5.3 Assistance to users: LO / O / O ### Key data-quality findings and specific statistics - SDDS subscription date: February 12, 2004. - 2011 SDDS annual report: Uruguay met SDDS requirements for timeliness with episodic exceptions. - CBU Strategic planning: 2010–2014 Strategic Plan and 2012 Strategic Initiatives referenced. - Staffing at CBU ESA: 10 vacancies, representing over 50 percent of its analysts. - Source vintage used in GDP calculation: fixed input-output ratios from 1997 underpin about 60 percent of GDP calculation. - Availability of detailed national accounts data: only up to 2008. - Frequency of household expenditure surveys: about once a decade. ### Institutional and legal specifics (CBU focus: Dimensions 0 and 1) - Legal and institutional environment: - CBU Charter does not clearly establish responsibility for compiling national accounts statistics. - National Statistical System Act (16.616) regulates integration (Article 1), principles (Article 3), and statistical confidentiality (Article 14). - CBU Charter: Law 16,696 (March 1995) and modifications Law 18,401 (October 2008) include provisions on secrecy (Article 21) and power to require information (Article 55). - CBU may impose fines for failure to supply required information: between 10,000 IU and 20,000 IU for legal persons; 4,000 IU for natural persons; payment of the fine does not exempt submission of requested information. Fines are not used to reduce nonresponse on national accounts collections owing to their administrative cost for the CBU. - There are coordination and communication issues inside statistical agencies and among them, and some duplication of effort in source data collection. - CBU has been excluded from access to individual tax records for statistical purposes under a tributary secrecy provision; a framework agreement NIS-CBU exists for access to microdata released by the NIS. - Data collection: filling of questionnaires is done online; respondents are consulted in case of inconsistencies. - Resources: - Staff and financing at the CBU are not adequate. - Economic Statistics Area (ESA) has 10 vacancies, over 50 percent of analysts; ESA cannot manage rotation because it is at the minimum staff numbers. - Recruiting staff into the Civil Service takes a long time and has slowed recruitment of national accounts staff. - Information technology is generally adequate. - ESA structure could be updated to better reflect workflow. - Relevance: - Users are not consulted on relevance of CBU statistics in a regular manner; no advisory group on statistics exists. - Other quality management: - Mission and vision of CBU and ESA stress data quality. - Institution is improving organizational infrastructure for economies of scale and process optimization through Strategic Planning. - International independent assessments have been sought; CBU has received technical advice from ECLAC. - Institutional integrity: - CBU is created by Article 196 of the Constitution and has technical, administrative, and financial autonomy; staff positions are technical and promotions are competitive. - Staff training and support for research could be improved. - CBU rarely comments on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics. - Transparency: - Administrative rules establish transparency as a principle. - Law 18381 (October 17, 2008) promotes transparency of administrative functions; CBU Board Resolution No. 201 dated June 29, 2011 implements administrative procedure regulations available on the intranet. - Disclosure outside CBU is done at the same time for all users. - Users are not given advance notice of major methodological changes. - Ethical standards: - CBU Bylaws and a code of ethics (Board Resolution No. 485 of December 29, 2010) and Disciplinary Regulation (Board Resolution No. 153 of March 22, 1994) establish and make available ethical guidance on the intranet. *Source: Data Quality Assessment Framework 2012—Summary Results (ROSC—Data Module) for Uruguay* ### 0. Prerequisites of quality ### 0. Prerequisites of quality ### Assurances of integrity - Legal and institutional environment: - The NIS is a public body aiming at the development, monitoring and coordination of national statistics. - Statistics Law No. 16,616 enacted on October 20, 1994, states that the National Statistical System (NSS) is formed by the NIS as the governing body, the Sector Coordinating Units (one for each relevant subject area) and other offices producing statistics. - NIS functions include compiling statistical, demographic, economic and social information; coordinating and supervising the NSS; disseminating information produced by the NIS, or other bodies of the NSS; promoting statistical research; developing knowledge in the field of statistics and economics; providing training to staff of the Statistical Offices of the system; establishing technical standards to be implemented in the development of official statistics; approving plans and statistical programs of the NSS; and monitoring their implementation. - Article 3: statistical confidentiality must be observed concerning the individual data provided by the source of information, so as not to reveal the identity of these sources. - Article 13: a source of information may be any person or entity that is, permanently or temporarily, in the country. - Article 14: all natural or legal persons, nonstate public persons and public bodies are required to provide data that may be required for statistical purposes by members of the NSS and within the period prescribed. Noncompliance with information request is penalized with a fine. The amount of the fine is determined by the NIS, between a minimum of 20 IU (twenty indexed units) and a maximum of 50 IU (fifty units adjustment). - Article 7.D requires that NIS compiles, publishes and disseminates data within the area of its competence, which includes the consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI). - Resources: - The NIS’s challenge in hiring and retaining qualified specialists in economic statistics is made more acute under current civil service arrangements. - Relevance: - Users are not consulted on a regular basis about the relevance of statistics produced by the NIS. Although feedback is not discouraged, there is no formal process in place for users to express their opinions about their statistical needs. - Other quality management: - The NIS has in place a quality policy. A System of Quality Management was created a few years ago for which the scope is to improve statistical data. - The Construction Cost Index was certified according to the ISO 20252:2006 standard in 2008, as a pilot. - Over the next five years the NIS will implement the system in other areas of the Institute, according to specific work plans that will be defined annually. - The quality management system is still at the implementation stage and will require additional staff training about this framework. - Institutional integrity and transparency: - Article 3 states that the statistical rigor that NIS should observe is the systematic application of the principles, methods and procedures generally accepted in the statistical art and science. - Technical autonomy is observed in the development of statistical activities with independence and objectivity, and based exclusively on statistical principles. - The CBU does not comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics. - Transparency is a valued quality at the NIS. Providers have the right to know objectives of statistical activity and be informed that by law their information is confidential. - No ministerial commentary is added to the data released. - In practice, users of the CPI and PPI are informed of methodological changes only at release time. - Ethical standards: - NIS staff follow established ethical standards in the performance of their duties. ### National Accounts — Methodological soundness - Concepts and definitions: - Follow the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA). - A program for changing the base year and implementing the 2008 SNA is under development, but has not reached the approval stage. - Scope and coverage: - Data published on GDP cover the entire Uruguayan economy. - In the base year 2005, efforts were made to cover both recorded and non-recorded activities. - No annual integrated economic accounts by institutional sector and quarterly GDP by the expenditure approach at current prices are compiled. - Free zones/bonded warehouses/factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control are included in GDP. Contraband is estimated. - Classification/sectorization and basis for recording: - Activity classifier is ISIC Rev.3 and a national classifier of products. - CPC, COICOP, and COFOG are not used. - Market prices used; transactions and flows recorded on accrual basis except for government revenues. - Government expenditure is on an obligation basis rather than on an accrual basis. - Transactions between establishments of the same enterprise are recorded on a net basis because data are collected at enterprise level. - Source data and assessment: - Business register is partially updated; elimination of enterprises that close or reclassification of enterprises that change activity is not timely. - Annual enterprise statistics are collected through a regular survey program that is not always consistent over time or timely. - Enterprise data are sometimes not accurate enough to be usable. - Household surveys are conducted by the NIS on a regular basis, but only on a 10-year interval. - Data for construction, services, and quarterly estimates are limited in scope. - Comprehensive government finance statistics are available regularly. - Financial statements and supplementary data are available only for public corporations and public-private partnerships; no access for private nonfinancial corporations. - Source data on free zones are incomplete. - The coverage of total value added by all data sources is around 56 percent. - Accuracy of data from surveys, administrative records, and other sources is not routinely assessed. - Data from the economic survey are not properly validated due to lack of resources; some collected data are only partially used. - There is no information on non-sampling errors for most surveys. - Statistical techniques: - Output estimates compiled at the group and class level of ISIC, Rev.3 and Rev.2, respectively. - Fixed ratios from 1997 are used to obtain 60 percent of GDP. - Employment data used to adjust for nonobserved activities, but available household data on salaries and mixed income are not used. - GDP estimates by expenditure were derived independently for the base year but quarterly household consumption expenditure is not independently derived. - Changes in inventories are residually obtained. - Proper techniques used for net acquisitions of owner-occupied dwellings and work in progress; no inventory valuation adjustment. - Proper procedures are followed for compiling volume measures of GDP. - Periodicity, timeliness, consistency, and revisions: - GDP estimates compiled quarterly and annually. - Quarterly GDP estimates disseminated 75 days after end of reference quarter although sometimes with short delays. - Annual GDP estimates disseminated within three months after end of reference year. - Annual national accounts internally consistent; quarterly GDP consistent with annual estimates. - National accounts statistics consistent with balance of payments and government finance statistics. - Quarterly data are preliminary when first released. Quarterly revision takes place every quarter during the current year and once annual data are released. - Annual preliminary data for the previous year first released in March of the following year and are preliminary until a supply and use table is compiled. Data for the two previous years are usually revised. - No regular schedule for updating the base year. Current revisions have a regular schedule. - Major revisions are analyzed and published, but specific causes of regular revisions are not disseminated. - Data and metadata accessibility: - Quarterly and annual data disseminated for GDP in current and constant 2005 prices in pesos, volume indices, and implicit deflators, broken down by sectors of economic activity. - CBU website disseminates quarterly and annual data with different base periods from 1988. Linked time series are not available on the CBU website. - Detailed data available up to 2008; data at 3-digit level only available for some activities. Aggregated data available from 2009 onwards. - Quarterly GDP by expenditure disseminated only in constant 2005 pesos and volume indices. - Official estimates published on the CBU website where annual and quarterly reports and tables can be found. - Consolidated accounts are annually disseminated. Charts and briefings disseminated along with the data. - An advance release calendar that provides a next quarter precise release date is posted on the CBU website. Statistics usually released on a preannounced schedule and simultaneously to all users on CBU website. - Statistics not routinely disseminated are made available to users upon request to the Institutional Communication Center: info@bcu.gub.uy. - Methodological basis described in CBU publication “Revisión Integral de las Cuentas Nacionales 1997–2008” and disseminated through the CBU website. Historical data of 1983 Base (1988 Revision) also available on the CBU website. - Validation, seasonal adjustment, and revision studies: - Quarterly data are benchmarked and seasonally adjusted. Chain indices are not used. - Intermediate results validated and checked against other independent data sources. The supply and use framework is used to investigate discrepancies and make statistical outputs consistent. - Last available SUT is from 2008. - Major revision studies made when changing the base year, but regular revisions are not analyzed to detect bias in the series. - Assistance to users: - No established procedure to consult CBU’s visitors on their data gathering experience. An e-mail address on the CBU website addresses consultations. Assistance to users is not monitored and revised periodically. ### Consumer Price Index (CPI) — Methodological soundness and serviceability - Concepts and definitions: - The CPI is compiled following the Consumer Price Index Manual 2004. - Level of detail sufficient to perform detailed analysis of price changes. - Scope: - CPI covers aggregates consistent with final consumption expenditure of households for 375 products. - Includes all resident urban households at national level (urban Montevideo city and other urban areas), families of all sizes and income levels. - Excludes imputed value of owner-occupied housing; illegal goods and used goods excluded. - Classification and basis for recording: - COICOP is used to classify CPI data. - CPI weights based on consumption expenditure valued at purchasers’ prices, including indirect taxes and excluding interest on credit purchases. Weights based on net purchases. - Source data: - Base period for the CPI is December 2010 = 100. - Weights from the 2005–2006 Household Expenditure and Income Survey, supplemented with national accounts. - Price survey includes electronic point of sale (scanner) data. Press articles sometimes used to validate price change for some items such as gasoline. - Periodicity and timeliness of price survey complies with international best practices. - Sample of detailed products is not updated to allow new products to enter the index. - Assessment and statistical techniques: - Surveys audited to monitor enumerators. Outliers confirmed with respondents. - CPI is a Laspeyres price index. Automation minimizes processing errors. - Imputation for temporarily missing, seasonal, and new products uses price movement of products in the same group based on cell sufficiency criteria. - Elementary aggregates use the geometric mean formula. - Unusual changes investigated and corrected if warranted; intermediate and final outputs are not validated against comparable data from other sources. - No revision studies are carried out by the NIS for the CPI to assess the impact of weight and basket updates. - Periodicity, timeliness, consistency, and revisions: - CPI produced monthly and released on the second business day of the month following the reference month. - Statistical series internally consistent. - “Cifras” publishes monthly data for the reference year and for the three previous years. NIS’s website disseminates “Cifras” and monthly time series data since March 1997. - CPI data are deemed final and are therefore not subject to revision. Weight and basket updates are not on a regular schedule. - Data and metadata accessibility: - Datasets published with different levels of detail. - E-mail subscription in Uruguay available on request from difusión@ine.gub.uy or by fax. - Data can be viewed on the NIS website and on Uruguay’s National Summary Data Page (NSDP). - CPI release calendar posted on the NIS website. Statistics promptly disseminated at 2 p.m. on posted release dates. - Data released simultaneously to all users in a press release “Indice de Precios al Consumo” and monthly publication “Cifras.” - Certain institutional users can access data up to two hours prior to official release; data also disseminated to banking system via interbank computer network, and published in the Diario Oficial de la República (Official Gazette). - Data not routinely disseminated are available upon request. - A methodological note is published in “Indice de Precios del Consumo, Cambio de Base–Diciembre 2010, Nota Metodológica” explaining concepts and methods used and changes introduced during last update. Deviations from international standards are not noted. - Assistance to users: - Support available to users. NIS website contains a list of publications and documents. NIS has a library for older publications. For special requests of unpublished statistical series, applicable price changes are calculated upon request. ### Producer Price Index (PPI) — Methodological soundness and accessibility - Concepts and scope: - PPI compiled by NIS following the Producer Price Index Manual 2004. - No price indices for intermediate consumption. - PPI covers gross output of agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, fishing, mining and quarrying, and manufacturing. - All resident enterprises in the formal market producing for the domestic market are in scope. - Desirable to expand coverage to utilities, services and construction, and exports of goods and services. - Classification and basis for recording: - Classification follows 1993 SNA guidelines. For classes of activities, ISIC Rev.3 is used with slight modifications. NIS uses the CPA product classification. - Price defined as value per unit traded in a purchase/sale operation between seller and buyer. Collected prices represent amount received by the producer for Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, and Manufacturing; landed prices for fisheries; quarry price for Mining and Quarrying. - Source data and assessment: - Index base weights drawn from supply-and-use tables compiled from the CBU. - Product selection based on a sample survey of specifications. Data support PPI statistics at the 4-digit level. - Annual surveys conducted on industrial activity. Price reference is the tenth of the month; recommendation to spread through month for volatile items. - Increases of + or – 5 percent over last reported prices are examined for accuracy. - Proportion of output of sections A–D of ISIC Rev.3 covered by PPI is at least 90 percent. - Data from secondary sources (government ministries) are not validated. - Statistical techniques: - PPI uses a Laspeyres formula with base and reference period March 2010=100. - Use of e-forms and automatic data capture minimize data-entry errors. Calculation procedure standardized. - Temporarily missing and seasonal prices imputed from price changes of similar products. - Product replacements handled using a previous month price supplied by the producer or targeted imputation. - Unusual price relatives investigated and corrected if erroneous. Checks with external data sources are seldom performed. - Base and weights updated with no preset timeframe. No revision studies performed since index is not revised; no studies analyze effects of updating weights. - Periodicity, timeliness, consistency, and revisions: - PPI produced monthly and released on the day before the last day of the reference month, exceeding the SDDS timeliness requirement; high timeliness may not allow sufficient time to analyze and validate results. - Aggregates presented at class, group, division, and industry level of Uruguay’s adaptation of ISIC Rev.3. General PPI can be obtained by aggregating from any stratification level. - Consistent time series available over a period longer than five years. Time series reconstructed when changes occur to source data, methodology, or statistical techniques. - Methodological changes announced when important discontinuities occur; discrepancies with other price statistics are seldom explored. - Revisions in weights and baskets do not follow a regular schedule. Methodological changes are sometimes posted on the NIS website but not common practice. - Data and metadata accessibility: - PPI data published with supplementary tables and charts. No seasonally-adjusted data produced. - Tables, press releases, and release calendar available on the website. Data disseminated to public and authorities on same day; e-mail sent to media with press releases after public availability. - Certain institutional users can access data up to two hours prior to official release. Special arrangements might be made upon request, provided confidentiality conditions are respected. - Methodological document Indice de precios al productor de productos nacionales (IPPN) available on NIS website and updated at same time as basket. SDDS metadata sent to the Central Bank as changes occur. Short updates published on the website. - Assistance to users: - Contact points listed in each questionnaire and on the NIS website. Service catalogs and documents available on the website. Institutional library provides non-electronic information. Special requests handled by the dissemination unit. *Source: _cr1442 - 0. Prerequisites of quality* ### 13. Based on the review of Uruguay’s statistical practices, discussions with the data ### 13. Based on the review of Uruguay’s statistical practices, discussions with the data ### Cross-cutting recommendations — High priority - Ensure that the NIS has adequate financial resources, staff, facilities, and training, and take further steps to increase retention of qualified staff. - The legal framework to hire/contract staff by the NIS and the CBU need to be more flexible to accelerate filling vacancies with technical qualifications in economic statistics. - Sign an agreement between the CBU and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) so that the CBU can have access to income tax records by economic activity in order to improve the coverage of national accounts and compile integrated economic accounts by institutional sector. - Expedite the filling of the ten vacancies in the CBU Economic Statistics Area. Additional staff will be needed for changing the base of the national accounts and implementing the 2008 SNA. - Conduct a new household Income and Expenditure Survey every five years to strengthen estimates for household final consumption expenditure and update the CPI weights. ### Cross-cutting recommendations — Other - Initiate regular consultations with public and private sector users, including through fostering users’ groups and an advisory committee; the advisory committee should include academics, private sector analysts, and producers’ associations and meet regularly (e.g., twice a year). - Announce in advance any planned changes in concepts and methodology; invite user feedback before implementing major changes. - Analyze data requests and comments from users periodically to improve service. - Initiate an employee rotation program to enhance versatility and redundancy of skills in statistical units and teams. ### National Accounts — High priority - Update the base year of the national accounts and develop plan for implementing the 2008 SNA as soon as possible with a clear timetable. - Update the business register regularly. ### National Accounts — Other recommendations - The NIS should review and update the classification by economic activity of the business register obtained from income tax records and provide an improved version to the MEF. - Adapt the functions of the CBU ESA’s departments to an integrated organization by institutional sector (non-financial sector, financial sector, public sector, and external sector) so that supply and use tables by economic activity and product by sector and the economic integrated accounts by sector are compiled and analyzed by the same staff with coordinators by type of statistic. - Apply ISIC Rev. 4 and CPC Ver. 2 for classifying activities and products; apply COICOP for household financial consumption expenditure and COFOG for government final consumption expenditure. - Increase the level of detail of disseminated national accounts data to three digits of the ISIC. - Improve estimates of nonobserved activities by using available income data from the permanent household surveys. - Consider the use of chain indices for calculating volume measures. - Reconstruct historical series as far back as reasonably possible when changing the base year. - Apply the economic activity classification of the economic survey (ISIC, Rev. 4) to the permanent household survey to reduce volatility of employment data by economic activity. - Include an expenditure module every two to three years to monitor changes in consumption patterns and improve household consumption estimates. - Improve coverage of the economic survey, and surveys on construction, domestic trade and services (annual, quarterly, and monthly) to 80 percent of the economic activity in the country. - Use monthly value-added tax (VAT) data by economic activity to improve coverage of quarterly national accounts estimates. - Conduct a quarterly survey on sales of services and on inventories of inputs and finished and resale products. - Improve coverage of the monthly index of economic activity to disseminate and use it fully for policy decision making. - Review the Economic Survey to collect inputs and outputs of establishments that integrate an enterprise for the new base year; apply a standard product coding in the survey, preferably CPC; conduct an integrated enterprise/establishment survey when changing the base year. - Use available data on prices and volume to apply the double deflation/inflation method to main inputs and outputs on a quarterly basis. - Use data on inventories collected in the economic survey and from income tax records to improve coverage of changes in inventories. - Explain current data revisions to users. ### Consumer Price Index — High priority - Incorporate owner-occupied housing in the CPI. - Establish a regular cycle for updating the CPI basket on a timely basis. Advantages listed: - Improve the relevance of the CPI for current economic conditions. - Improve planning and organization of the resource requirements for updating the basket. ### Consumer Price Index — Other recommendations - Use basket updates as an opportunity for comprehensive review of CPI procedures, concepts, and methods; refresh the choice of sample of representative products when updating the basket. - NIS could study differences between the household expenditure survey and comparable components of national accounts household consumption expenditure and consider using national accounts data as the source of, or control for, CPI weights. Advantages listed: - Improved coherence between the CPI and national accounts. - Weighting information that incorporates the most recent household expenditure survey, retail sales, and other current information with better coverage of certain household expenditure components. - More timely CPI weights, reducing lag between weight reference year and price reference month. - Possibility of updating basket weights more often and at lower cost. - Improve analytical capacity of the NIS CPI unit. - Institute more data confrontation-type analysis for validation using alternative data sources. ### Producer Price Index — High priority - Establish a regular calendar for updating the PPI, with an update cycle of no more than five years. - Add additional economists/statisticians to PPI staff. - Institute more data confrontation-type analysis and analysis of third-party data used in the PPI. ### Producer Price Index — Other recommendations - Expand scope of the PPI to include first utilities, and subsequently services and construction. - Expand scope of the PPI to include products destined for export (international standard). - Consider delaying release of the PPI until one or two weeks after the reference month to provide more time for analysis; current timeliness constrained by limited resources. ### Appendix Table — SDDS comparison (selected entries preserved as presented) - National accounts: Coverage — Yes; Periodicity/Timeliness — QQQ3M - Production index/indices: SDDS — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity — M; Uruguay Timeliness — 48D - Employment: Coverage — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity/Timeliness — QMQ5W - Unemployment: Coverage — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity/Timeliness — QMQ5W - Wages/earnings: Coverage — Yes; Uruguay Periodicity/Timeliness — QMQ5W - Consumer price index: Coverage — Yes; SDDS periodicity MMMNLT; Uruguay Timeliness — 5D - Producer price index: Coverage — Yes; SDDS periodicity MMM1D (Note: Periodicity and timeliness codes preserved as presented: (D) daily; (W) weekly or with a lag of no more than one week; (M) monthly or with a lag of no more than one month; (Q) quarterly or with a lag of no more than one quarter; (A) annually; (...) not applicable. Italics indicate encouraged categories. 1/ No flexibility options taken for national accounts, CPI, or PPI; Uruguay takes certain flexibility options for other categories.) ### Response by the authorities — Cross-cutting (summary of actions and plans) - NIS recruitment and retention: New staff being recruited shortly; promotions implemented; six new adviser posts created to retain qualified personnel. - Legal framework for hiring: Identified as beyond NIS/CBU authority; requires changes to civil servants recruitment legal framework. - Access to tax records: On November 7, 2012 Law 18.996 approved allowing information in tax records to be used for statistical purposes by the directing authority of the National Statistical System; enables use by NIS and CBU. - CBU vacancies: Eight of the ten vacancies in the CBU Economic Statistics Area filled in July and August 2013; remaining two expected to be filled by the end of this year; additional temporary staff expected next year. - Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Uruguay is considering moving to every five years; NIS working on raising funds for a new survey and will assess feasibility of repeating every five years. - User consultations: CBU included regular user consultations in annual planning; a users’ survey scheduled for November 2013. - Advance notice of methodological changes: On July 10, 2013 CBU approved RD 173-2013 a new PLAE for 2013–2019; working papers will be released regularly to inform users in advance; first working paper finished and to be released shortly. - Analyze user requests: Initiative to be carried out in response to users’ queries in the consultation plan starting this year. - Employee rotation: PLAE calls for cross working teams and cross training; included in 2013 strategic planning within CBU’s 2010–2014 Strategic Plan. ### Response by the Central Bank of Uruguay — National accounts (summary of actions and plans) - Update base year / 2008 SNA: On July 10, 2013 CBU approved RD 173-2013 a new PLAE for national accounts and balance of payments statistics to be developed during 2013–2019; includes adoption of 2008 SNA and BPM6, a new base year, and harmonization between balance of payments and national accounts. - Business register updates: NIS updates the business register every year using social security contributions register and taxes revenues register; last update in July 2013 with data from December 2012. - Review/update classification in business register: In 2013 an ongoing program via telephone calls confirms/updates activity classification for majority of bigger enterprises in the NIS register; the business register is publicly available and delivered on request. - Adaptation of ESA organization: PLAE 2013–2019 includes restructuring ESA work; Phase 0 organizes team by projects to conduct 29 basic statistics projects; subsequent phase refers to compilation of SUT by Industry and Institutional Sectors and compilation of Integrated Economic Accounts; rearrangement toward institutional sector division to be implemented in second phase. - Adoption of classifications: In 2013 a Working Group of CBU and NIS evaluated adoption of recommended classifications and defined CPC Ver.2 and ISIC Rev. 4 versions adapted to the new reference year. *Italic: Excerpted from the IMF Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module Volume II: Uruguay.* ### 15. Increase the level of detail of disseminated national accounts data at three digits of ### _cr1442 - 15. Increase the level of detail of disseminated national accounts data at three digits of ### National accounts: implementation of recommendations (items 15–27) - 15. Increase the level of detail of disseminated national accounts data at three digits of the ISIC. - Implementation status: The defined new industry classification for the compilation of the new reference year has taken into account this recommendation. - 16. Improve estimates of non-observed activities by using available income data from the permanent household surveys. - Implementation status: One of the 29 basic statistics projects included in Phase 0 of the PLAE 2013–2019 is to develop the Employment Matrix for the base year and ongoing years of the series. These estimates will be based on the permanent household surveys and the 2011 population census. - 17. Consider the use of chain indices for calculating volume measures. - Implementation status: This recommendation has been taken into account and the PLAE 2013–2019 will estimate chained volume measures for the series 2012 and ahead. - 18. Reconstruct historical series as far back as reasonably possible when changing the base year. The linked series of main national accounts aggregates for 1997–2011 should be disseminated. - Implementation status: This recommendation will be considered, probably by linking new series with previous ones since 2005 or since 1997. The availability of appropriate information is going to be evaluated in the framework of the PLAE 2013-2019. - 19. Apply the economic activity classification of the economic survey (ISIC Rev. 4) to the permanent household survey and include an expenditure module every two to three years to monitor changes in consumption patterns and improve estimates on household consumption. - Implementation status: ISIC Rev. 4 is already in use for the classification of economic activity in the permanent household survey. The inclusion of an expenditure module every three years in this survey is going to be evaluated in the framework of resources availability. - 20. Improve the coverage of the economic survey, the surveys on construction, domestic trade and services (annual, quarterly, and monthly) to 80 percent of the economic activity in the country. - Implementation status: Currently being implemented. A new Annual Economic Activity Survey is currently being implemented by NIS with partial funding by CBU, expanding scope to include mining and manufacturing activities, trade services and the majority of business, social and household services activities. The new survey design will allow updating outputs, intermediate consumption and compensation of employees estimates. A new Big Constructions Survey conducted by NIS began in February 2013 with CBU funding. New improvements in construction annual statistics are going to be considered in the near future. - 21. Use monthly value-added tax (VAT) data by economic activity to improve the coverage of quarterly national accounts estimates. - Implementation status: Monthly VAT statistic produced by the tax office is currently available. Limitations: classification of activities and coverage for some activities are not good enough to use in all cases; sometimes indirect indicators are preferable for coverage; in some cases volume measures are difficult to derive from nominal values. These VAT figures are always used as parameters to monitor results. - 22. Conduct a quarterly survey on sales of services and on inventories of inputs and finished and resale products. - Implementation status: Not considered a priority in Phase 0 of the PLAE 2013–2019. Could be considered in following phases once generation of annual basic statistics is finished. - 23. Improve the coverage of the monthly index of economic activity in order to disseminate it and use it in all its potential for policy decision making. - Implementation status: Will probably be considered in the context of new annual, quarterly (and monthly) series in the second and third phase of the PLAE. Related to availability of monthly indicators for some activities. - 24. Review the Economic Survey to collect data of inputs and outputs of the establishments that integrate an enterprise at least for the new base year of the national accounts. Apply a standard product coding in the survey, preferably CPC. - Implementation status: Both recommendations have been included in the design of the new Annual Economic Activity Survey currently being implemented by NIS. - 25. Use available data on prices and volume to apply the double deflation/inflation method to main inputs and outputs on a quarterly basis. - Implementation status: This improvement in the methodology used in quarterly accounts is going to be implemented for the new series in the context of the PLAE 2013–2019. - 26. Use data on inventories collected in the economic survey and from income tax records in order to improve the coverage of changes in inventories. - Implementation status: This improvement in the methodology used in annual and quarterly accounts is going to be implemented for the new series in the context of the PLAE 2013–2019. - 27. Explain current data revisions to users. - Implementation status: CBU has begun a new policy to get in touch with users more regularly. First step: implement a consult to users which is going to take place next November. In the future this vehicle will be useful to explain data revisions to users. ### Consumer Price Index (CPI): priorities and actions (items 28–33) - High priority - 28. Incorporate owner-occupied housing in the CPI. - Status/considerations: Recognized relevance, but no tradition in the Institute on its inclusion in the basket; should be analyzed with the CBU and national authorities for the next base index. - 29. A regular cycle for updating the CPI basket should be established. - Advantages listed in source: - Improve the relevance of the CPI for current economic conditions. - Improve the planning and organization of the resource requirements for updating the basket. - Status/considerations: Institute recognizes relevance. A future timeline for a regular base change should be established. Currently estimated not possible under existing conditions because government approval is deemed necessary for an expenditure survey of household income that would allow changing the current basis and improving estimation of the consumption component of National Accounts statistics. Data availability does not allow an alternative procedure based on national accounts weights because a steady flow of information on supply and use tables could not be maintained. - Other recommendations - 30. Use a basket update exercise to comprehensively review CPI procedures, concepts, and methods (e.g., refresh choice of sample of representative products when updating basket). - Status: Basket update will be undertaken when government approves realization of a new household expenditure survey, which will allow comprehensive revision of CPI procedures and methods. - 31. Study differences between household expenditure survey and comparable national accounts household consumption expenditure and consider using national accounts data as source of, or control for, CPI weights. - Advantages listed in source: - Improved coherence of macroeconomic statistics between the CPI and the national accounts. - Weighting information that incorporates the most recent household expenditure survey, retail sales and other current information with better coverage of certain household expenditure components. - More timely CPI weights, reducing the lag between the weight reference year and the price reference month. - Possibility of updating basket weights more often and at lower cost. - Status: Last base change followed recommended procedure, with weights estimated by arbitration between income and expenditure survey of households and national accounts statistics. Methodology expected to be applied again and to add new databases in future base changes. - 32. Improve the analytical capacity of the NIS CPI unit. - Status: Staff increase occurred in 2013 and additional staff expected in the course of the year will allow strengthening technical and analytical capacity. - 33. Institute more data confrontation-type analysis for validation of results using alternative data sources. - Status: Last base change followed arbitration between two sources (income and expenditure survey and national accounts). Future base changes expected to apply this methodology and add new databases. ### Producer Price Index (PPI): priorities and other recommendations (items 34–36 and others) - High priority - 34. Establish a regular calendar for updating the PPI with an update cycle of no more than five years. - Status/considerations: Institute recognizes relevance. In the future a timeline for regular base changes should be established. - 35. Add additional economists/statisticians to the staff. - Status: Four advanced students of economics and one advanced student of statistics joined the NIS team in August 2013. It is expected that in October 2013 ten more students of economics will join to work on tasks of critics. - 36. Institute more data confrontation-type analysis and third-party data analysis used in the PPI once more analysts are hired. - Status: Recommendation has merit and will be taken into account as the team is strengthened. New tasks could be incorporated to further analysis and adopt different and better methods. - Other recommendations (from source) - Expand coverage of the PPI to include first utilities, and subsequently services and construction. - Expand coverage of the PPI to include products destined for export. - Consider delaying the release of the PPI one or two weeks after the reference month to provide more time to analyze results and data sources (not currently done given limited resources). - Planned actions: It is expected that in 2014 work can begin on changing basis in conjunction with the physical volume indicator to set 2015 as the new joint base of both types of indicators. Also seeks to extend coverage to recommended sectors and destinations and establish periodicity of future base changes (ideally every five years at most). The possibility of postponing the date of publication should be reviewed with government authorities and users. *Source: Excerpts from Uruguay — Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module (Detailed assessments using the Data Quality Assessment Framework), January 2014.* ### 0.1 Legal and institutional environment ### 0.1 Legal and institutional environment ### 0.1.1 Responsibility for compiling and disseminating statistics - Uruguay’s national accounts are compiled and disseminated by the Central Bank of Uruguay (CBU). - The CBU is established by Article 196 of the Constitution and is an autonomous public body with technical, administrative, and financial autonomy. - The Charter of the CBU, approved by Law No. 16.696 of 03/30/1995, stipulates primary purposes in Article 3: (i) price stability that contributes to the objectives of growth and employment, and (ii) the regulation and supervision of the payments operation system and the financial system, promoting their soundness, solvency, efficiency, and development. - The Charter does not explicitly stipulate compilation and dissemination of national accounts statistics as one of the CBU’s purposes, but Article 55 on information for statistical purposes allows the CBU to require on a mandatory basis, for statistical purposes, from any individual or legal entity, public or private, all information needed to properly enforce its functions and duties. - Article 1 of Law No. 16.616 of 10/20/1994 established the National Statistical System (NSS), integrated by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) and statistical offices across Executive, Legislative, and Judicial powers, autonomous entities, decentralized services, and departmental governments. - Article 5 of the NSS law states that the NIS depends hierarchically on the Planning and Budget Commission notwithstanding technical autonomy; in practice the NIS reports to the Planning and Budget Office under the presidency of the republic. - Main tasks of the NIS (Article 6) include coordination and supervision of the NSS; establishing technical standards on concepts, definitions, classifications, and methodologies; preparing the National Statistical Plan; developing, publishing, and disseminating statistics; giving official character to NSS statistics; training staff; promoting research; installing regional offices; and entering into agreements for statistical work. - The NIS is responsible for conducting censuses and surveys and collecting source data for national accounts, but budgetary and human resource constraints mean some surveys are financed or conducted by the CBU. - The legal framework broadly follows international standards, but NIS functions are ambitious relative to current capacity and the institutional environment is highly decentralized, producing some duplication of efforts amid limited statistical budgets. - Recommendation: - Revise the CBU’s Charter to clarify CBU’s responsibility for compiling and disseminating national accounts statistics. ### 0.1.2 Data sharing and coordination among data-producing agencies - The major producer of source data for national accounts purposes is the NIS (sectoral economic surveys on production and costs, household surveys, and price surveys); the CBU conducts complementary surveys. - A formal inter-institutional cooperation agreement between NIS and CBU was signed on May 13, 2003, regulating information flow from NIS to CBU. - A memorandum of understanding among the CBU, the NIS, and ECLAC was recently signed to schedule and execute preparatory statistical operations for changing the base year of national accounts and implementing the System of National Accounts 2008 (2008 SNA); activities include conducting a household income and expenditure survey, reviewing the Annual Survey of Economic Activity and the Permanent Household Survey, conducting a trade channels and margins survey, and reviewing construction statistics. - Implementation responsibilities under the MOU: NIS, Statistics Area of the CBU, and the Economics and Statistics Division of ECLAC, with ECLAC providing technical assistance and CBU assisting NIS in special projects; specific activities to be executed under concrete agreements. - The agreements establish quality and timeliness terms for NIS products; the CBU finances some national accounts inputs. - Improvements in NIS source-data processing have yielded some gains in timeliness but only gradual improvements in data validation and quality due to limited NIS resources. - Administrative records used: customs records from the National Customs Directorate (NCD) and tax records (income and value-added taxes) from the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI). The CBU has direct access to the customs database. Quality and coverage of customs and tax-on-products records is described as good, with appropriate filters developed for national accounts use. - NSS responsibilities include disciplining planning, production, and dissemination of statistics to ensure integration, coordination, rationality, and reliability; tasks listed include producing reliable timely statistics, guiding statistical development, training staff, and encouraging statistics for research. - Article 4: NIS is governing body of NSS and establishes standards on concepts, definitions, classifications, and methodologies; statistical production is decentralized to operational statistical offices by subject area. - Interagency cooperation provisions (Article 8) require Sector Coordinating Units to prepare Sectoral Statistical Plans, coordinate and monitor implementation, and run or delegate statistical activities for their sectors. - Uruguay prepared a Statistical Master Plan (SMP) during 2006–2007 with World Bank support; 15 working groups by subject area (WGSA) were established in October–December 2006 to produce medium-term sectoral programs. Working groups included National Accounts and Balance of Payments among others, but most groups are not meeting periodically and plans have not materialized except for tourism. - Coordination and communication issues remain inside and among statistical agencies; duplication exists in source-data collection (NIS surveys and some CBU data collection). - Conflict exists between CBU legal authority to collect data and lack of CBU access to income tax records due to tributary secrecy in the Tax Code (Article 47). - Income tax records are valuable for coverage of production accounts for private nonfinancial corporations and households and for compiling integrated economic accounts for these sectors. - Recommendations: - Enhance coordination among statistical agencies through closer contacts and regular meetings of technical staff (sectoral working groups) to discuss specific data requirements, reduce respondent burden, improve timeliness, use collected data fully, and avoid duplication. - Sign an agreement between the CBU and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) so that the CBU can have access to income tax records by economic activity. ### 0.1.3 Confidentiality of individual reporters’ data - Confidentiality is guaranteed by Article 55 on information for statistical purposes of the CBU Charter: such information is covered by administrative secrecy and will be strictly confidential. - Confidentiality is also guaranteed by Article 21 of the CBU Charter and Article 17 of the CBU Bylaws of Civil Servants. Article 17 includes duty "To keep absolute secrecy and discretion in all matters that come to their knowledge in the exercise of their functions". - Article 21 of the CBU Charter stipulates bank officials have a duty to maintain strict secrecy and strict discretion, under severe administrative, civil and criminal responsibility (Article 25 "in fine" Decree-Law No. 15.322 of September 17, 1982, and section 163 of the Penal Code). - The CBU Code of Ethics (RD/485/2010 of December 29, 2010) states in part b) of Article 5: “To keep absolute secrecy and reservation on the information obtained through any medium or in connection with the performance of its function, even after the termination of the relationship with the Bank.” - NSS Law Article 16: individual data provided for statistical purposes cannot be used for other purposes; Article 17: individual data provided to agencies of the NSS are covered by statistical confidentiality; secrecy obligation encompasses statistical agencies, their officials, and third parties who become aware of the data. - Data not covered by statistical confidentiality include name, address, registered office, industry, and size indicators piecewise provided by taxpayers, businesses or organizations; such information cannot be required so as to induce whose secret information must be preserved by legal mandate. - Article 18 of the NSS Law allows disclosure only of (i) aggregate or summary information (macro data); (ii) micro data provided the identity of the source is not disclosed; and (iii) the information referred to in the previous paragraph. - Article 19 states Statistical Offices must deliver micro data collected for statistical purposes, even identified, to another NSS member upon request if (i) the purpose is purely statistical and (ii) the applicant has adequate means to protect the data; nondelivery disputes are decided by the NIS; receiving offices must respect statistical confidentiality and not transfer microdata without express consent of the collecting office. - NIS questionnaires and instructions include confidentiality notice referencing Law 16.616 of October 20, 1994; NIS surveys enclose a letter informing respondents of confidentiality and aggregate use of data. NIS surveys are mainly filled online via individual passwords known only by respondents. - NIS and CBU data processing platforms have hierarchical privilege systems ensuring protected access; CBU IT Area has security measures (passwords, access lists, external firewall, antispam, antivirus). National accounts databases are administered by the ESA of the CBU. - Encrypted mail sharing system exists for confidential/highly sensitive information. CBU policies on internet/e-mail use, norms for treatment of confidential/highly sensitive information, and mechanical destruction of hard copy information are in place. - Rule of thumb for dissemination: do not disaggregate groups containing less than three individuals, or if done, only with informants’ consent. - Questionnaires archived at NIS storeroom and destroyed after several years unless permanent archive requested. ### 0.1.4 Statistical reporting mandate and measures to encourage response - The CBU is authorized under Article 55 of its Charter to obtain information from public institutions for compiling the national accounts; Article 55 allows mandatory requirement of information from any individual or legal entity, public or private, for statistical purposes. - Fines under the CBU Charter for failure to meet information requirements: - For legal persons: range between 10,000 IU (ten thousand indexed units) and 20,000 IU (twenty thousand indexed units). - For natural persons: 4,000 IU (four thousand indexed units). - Payment of the fine does not exempt submission of requested information. Fines are not used to reduce nonresponse for national accounts owing to their administrative cost for the CBU. - NSS Law provisions: - Article 13: any person or entity permanently or temporarily in the country is a source of information; data provided are for statistical purposes. - Article 14: all natural or legal persons and nonstate public agencies are required to provide data for statistical purposes within stipulated time. - Article 15: data provided must conform to the material truth (Article 30); sources may be required to present supporting documentation. - Article 24: statistics violations are punished with a fine determined by the NIS between a minimum of 20 IU (twenty indexed units) and a maximum of 50 IU (fifty indexed units); when the offender is a public person, hierarchical superior is liable and fine deducted from pay; NIS will create a registry of offenders and members of NSS must notify NIS payroll of punishments within 30 days. - When a violation suggests criminal offenses, heads of NSS agencies must proceed under Article 177 of the Penal Code. - Procedures for refusals are defined and systematically applied; typically after fine application the company provides data and may receive fine withdrawal if convincing reasons and no default history; otherwise fine may be remitted to the National Treasury. Fines are low relative to large and medium enterprises. - Nonresponse rates to NIS surveys (Table 1): - Structural Surveys Nonresponse: - Annual Survey of Economic Activity 20% (*) - Free Zone Census < 10% - Assets and Liabilities Survey 8% - Triennial Survey of Innovation Activities 10% - Short-Term Surveys Nonresponse: - Manufacturing Volume Index < 1% - National Producer Price Index < 1% - Sentiment/Outlook Survey (this survey is voluntary) 30% to 40% - Construction Costs Index < 1% - Construction Volume Index 0% - Average Wage Index < 1% - Consumer Price Index < 1% - (*) Part of nonresponse to the Annual Survey of Economic Activity is related to sampling frame issues or outdated samples that could not be reviewed. - Survey design has incorporated respondent burden reduction in the past, but some surveys remain too detailed and data collected are not always used due to timeliness or quality/confidence issues. NIS plans an Integrated Economic Statistics System; implementation has not started. - Recommendations: - Review all NIS’s surveys and CBU’s data requests to reduce respondent burden, make collected data consistent across different periodicities, and avoid duplication of data requests. - Conduct meetings, breakfasts, and presentations to presidents and accountants of important private enterprises and other institutions that provide statistical data to inform them of objectives and usefulness of statistical collections; involve CBU and NIS authorities in these events. - Review the NSS fines for nonresponse to update them to amounts that are in accordance with the revenues and capital of large and medium-size enterprises. *Source: _cr1442 - 0.1 Legal and institutional environment* ### 0.2 Resources ### 0.2 Resources ### 0.2.1 Staff, facilities, computing resources, and financing are commensurate with statistical programs Findings: - Staff numbers at the NIS and at the CBU are not adequate to collect and compile economic statistics in an appropriate and timely fashion. - Computing resources at the NIS and CBU are adequate, but physical infrastructure (lighting, heating, phone lines, and furniture) at the NIS needs improvement. - The NIS’s funding is not adequate for conducting the necessary economic surveys with the quality and timeliness required for compiling national accounts. - The ESA of the CBU has only 16 staff, 4 including three supervisors and one administrative assistant. Technical staff number is 12. - The number of staff dedicated to the compilation of national accounts in Uruguay represents only a third of the average staff number dedicated to national accounts in central banks and statistics institutes in Latin America. - Currently, the ESAs of the CBU and of the NIS have 10 and 8 vacancies, respectively. - Vacancies at the NIS have not been filled for more than a year owing to Civil Service regulations; vacancies at the CBU are available since May 2012 for the same reason. - The entry process and requirements to become public officials delays hiring because it requires prior favorable reports from the National Civil Service Bureau (ONSC), the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP) and the General Accounting Office (CGN). The ONSC shall inform on whether there are officials to be re-distributed at state-wide, in which case they would have priority in the allocation. Also the ONSC shall inform on the relevance of the call on the basis of need that prompted the request, informing the public entity and the executive power. (Law 16,127 and amendments, including law 17,930 and law 18 719). The OPP and the CGN, within their respective competencies, shall inform on the relevance of the call from the budgetary standpoint. - Only one university in Uruguay includes the statistics program in its programs, and this program has only been functioning during the last 8–10 years. Only 30 statisticians have graduated during this period. - Only one sampling specialist works at the NIS and designs the samples of most NIS surveys. - On average, the staff of the ESA has been compiling national accounts for more than 15 years. More than one-third has been compiling national accounts for thirty or more years, while the rest have been doing so for more than seven years on average. - Approximately one-fourth of ESA staff have post-graduate degrees at either the masters or doctoral level. - The ESA sends staff to short-term seminars (ECLAC, CEMLA, FIIAPP-Madrid), and medium-term courses (IMF). The major contribution to training has been “on-the-job” training. - The training program has been supplemented by sending professional staff to obtain masters’ degrees in economics (for example, to Argentina and Chile). - Compensation levels and structure at the CBU are competitive with the market (except at the entrance level), particularly if nonmonetary benefits are included. The bank is reviewing the provision of performance bonuses for achieving goals. - Compensation levels at the NIS Economic Statistics Division are low and not competitive with the market, causing high staff mobility inside and outside the NIS. - The CBU’s computing resources available for compiling the national accounts are adequate and updated frequently. Staff desktop computers are, in general, HP Intel Core Duo with appropriate data processing capacity networked Windows XP operating system. - ESA equipment: color printers, black and white printers, copiers for heavy-duty work, portable computers, overhead projectors; numbers sufficient for staff. - Software and analytical tools at the CBU: Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access), eViews WORK BENCH, SPSSv20, Win X-12 ARIMA, and CBU applications on external trade, unit value indices, national accounts consistency, and a database for time series. - Databases developed using ORACLE Procedural Language/Structured Query Language and Centura Java. - The platform for national accounts compilation process was developed in ORACLE databases and Excel worksheets. All staff members are connected to the internet, and there is an active intranet for developing compilation and communications processes. - Adequate protection provided for computer resources, including emergency back-up systems; Back-ups are daily updated. - Funding for compilation of national accounts is provided under the budgetary process of the CBU, formulated by the CBU Board of Directors and monitored by the Planning and Budget Office under the Executive Power and the Court of Accounts. Court of Accounts staff work at the CBU to monitor budget execution, which is reported twice a year. - Requests for funding for special projects (changing the base year, expanding coverage, methodological studies) are included as budgetary increases in the normal annual budgetary process. The operating budget is less flexible (last year expenditures indexed by the inflation rate and the increase in the exchange for expenses in foreign currency) than the financial budget used to issue coins and bills. - The base year compilation has been periodically reviewed by outside experts and the additional cost for the last exercise was only $350,000 spent by the CBU. Recommendations (from 0.2.1): - Ensure that the NIS has adequate financial resources, staff, facilities, and training, and take further steps to increase retention of qualified staff. - The legal framework to hire/contract staff by the NIS and the CBU (e.g., approval from the National Civil Service Office) should be more flexible provided that these institutions use a technical profile to fill vacancies. - Sign an agreement between the CBU and the MEF so that the CBU can have access to income tax records by economic activity in order to improve the coverage of national accounts and compile integrated economic accounts by institutional sector. - Update the base year of the national accounts and implement the 2008 SNA as soon as possible. - Expedite the filling of the ten vacancies in the CBU Economic Statistics Area. Additional staff will be needed for changing the base of the national accounts and implementing the 2008 SNA. Notes: - Footnote: Plus three freelances on internship that are financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) for a fixed term. ### 0.2.2 Measures to ensure efficient use of resources are implemented Findings: - The CBU has a five-year (2010–2014) strategic plan that serves to increase the quality and timeliness of compiled statistical series and to improve efficiency in the allocation of resources. The five-year strategic plan is further broken down into individual work plans administered by each organizational unit in coordination with the Strategic Development and Budget of the CBU. A committee meets periodically to review progress. - Allocation of both financial and human resources is in the process of being discussed. - Staff is evaluated annually based on contribution and achievement of pre-established goals through the newly Competency Assessment and Results System. This evaluation method includes new performance bonus (two-month salary) practices that will be individual. - To increase working-process effectiveness, the SCCA for national accounts has been developed based on a specific data model, allowing high consistency between classification, concepts, and systems for reconciling base year and annual follow-up compilations of production and goods and services accounts. - The base year compilation, carried out every fourteen to eighteen years, is the most costly compilation and is periodically evaluated; the recent exercise compared very favorably in cost-benefit terms with previous exercises in Uruguay and the region as only $350,000 were additionally spent by the CBU. - The current strategic plan includes diagnosing compliance with international standards, developing an adequacy plan and implementing international standards in statistical compilation as specific objectives of the ESA. - The CBU has an elaborate process for budgetary formulation and monitoring of budgetary execution, facilitating allocation of resources and achievement of results within strategic planning. - The unit compiling national accounts is the Economic Statistics Area (ESA) under the Economic Consulting (EC) Management of the CBU. - The ESA consists of four departments: Supply, Models and Projections Department; Demand and Prices Department; External Sector Department; Institutional Sectors Department. - Supply, Models, and Projections Department: compiles production accounts for all time series (base year, annual, quarterly) at current and constant prices, and an internal Monthly Index of Economic Activity (MIEA); collects, integrates and validates estimates for agriculture, fishing, manufacturing (activities D15 to D19 of ISIC Revision 3), domestic trade; compiles supply and use balances for important agricultural and manufacturing products and gross fixed capital formation in cultivated assets; compiles trade margin rates matrix by product; processes household surveys and population censuses to compile employment and wages; applies univariate models and seasonal adjustment; makes macroeconomic predictions. - Demand and Prices Department: designs, synthesizes, validates goods and services account and GDP by expenditure approach (annual and quarterly); compiles production accounts for mining and quarrying, manufacturing from D20 onwards, and construction; compiles exports and imports of goods and services at current and constant prices; gathers price and wage statistics for constant price estimates; participates in international meetings on relative prices measurement (World Bank PPP project); compiles direct estimates of changes in inventories for some products; tracks indirect estimation of household consumption expenditure; operates and updates the database “Information System of Economic Time Series” (SISTE). - Institutional Sectors Department: synthesizes activities of institutional sectors and ensures consistency with accounts by industry and goods and services accounts; compiles and validates consolidated accounts for the total economy, external sector account, financial corporation sector, public sector (nonfinancial corporations and administrations), and service sector (all services, except trade); provides government final consumption expenditure estimates; classifies taxes and fees and updates tax rates matrix by product; prepares supply-and-use balances for electricity, gas, water, and services (except domestic trade); manages the Consistency System of Final Annual National Accounts Series (SCCA) and coordinates Committee on the Annual Closing of the National Accounts. - External Sector Department: validates and compiles balance of payments, international investment position (IIP), and external account; compiles foreign trade statistics of goods (customs data processing) and disseminates them at current dollar values; compiles and disseminates export and import unit value indices; compiles matrix of imports and exports by economic activity classes and products; compiles terms of trade and real and nominal effective exchange rates; manages the Balance of Payments Compilation System (SIRAED) and coordinates with Committee on Closing the Balance of Payments and the IIP. - The four-department structure reflects differing levels of standardization and many source datasets; lack of compilation of a complete set of integrated economic accounts by institutional sector contributes to dispersion of activities across departments. - ESA limited human resources required an increase in staff time devoted to the last base year change by practically 50 percent compared to the normal working schedule, for a seven-year period. - Some activities (e.g., compilation of production accounts and compilation of GDP expenditure components) are spread across departments, complicating coordination. Recommendation: - Adapt the functions of the ESA’s departments to an integrated organization by institutional sector (nonfinancial private sector, financial sector, nonfinancial public sector, and external sector), so that the supply and use table by economic activity and product by sector and the economic integrated accounts by sector are compiled and analyzed by the same staff with coordinators by type of statistic (annual supply and use table, quarterly accounts, and integrated economic accounts). ### 0.3 Relevance 0.3.1 The relevance and practical utility of existing statistics in meeting users’ needs are monitored Findings: - A qualitative survey on qualified users was conducted in late 2006 as part of the Statistical Master Plan for Uruguay under the National Statistical Development Strategy with World Bank support. The survey was answered by 52 qualified users from academia, politics, public and private sector decision makers, private consultants, social and business organizations. - Majority opinion: NSS institutions are reliable, particularly NIS and CBU. - Respondents reported an average degree of satisfaction with statistics produced by NIS and CBU. Fifty percent of informants were satisfied with the statistics compiled by the NIS and the CBU. - The CBU website provides an e-mail address (info@bcu.gub.uy) for users to submit feedback on the statistical database and other suggestions. No other specific measures (surveys, informative bulletins, seminars) have been adopted to ensure statistics meet users’ needs. - The ESA has no periodic and direct process for consulting with substantive users (national accounts, academia, media, private sector) to evaluate usefulness and identify emerging requirements. - There has been high sensitivity and response capacity in meeting requests from users and CBU internal research and management needs (example: first release of the base year of the national accounts). - ESA actively participates in statistical meetings and seminars organized by regional organizations (ECLAC and MERCOSUR). - Data requests are mainly satisfied by e-mail but are not periodically analyzed to identify new and emerging data requirements. - The CBU Communication Department redesigned the CBU website in 2010 to allow navigation by topics and conducted a survey of some economic analysts; respondents said the new website service was better and that most used statistics are the daily exchange rate and quarterly GDP. Recommendations (from 0.3.1): - Initiate regular consultations with public and private sector users, including through fostering users’ groups and establishing an advisory committee to improve usefulness of statistics and advise on statistical program priorities. The advisory committee should include academics, private sector analysts, and producers’ associations. - Analyze data requests and users’ comments made through the CBU website periodically in order to improve the service provided. *Source: _cr1442 - 0.2 Resources* ### 0.4 Other quality management ### _cr1442 - 0.4 Other quality management ### 0.4.1 Processes to focus on quality - The mission and the vision of the CBU and of the ESA underscore the importance of quality. - The CBU is in the process of improving its structure in order take into account economies of scale and optimizing processes. - Strategic objectives aligned with the 2010–2014 Strategic Plan: - “4. Generate and disseminate information and knowledge in the economic and financial matters.” - Specific strategic objective related to statistics: “4.1 Generate and disseminate information and knowledge adjusted to best practices and international recommendations in the matter.” - Functional objective related to national accounts statistics: “4.1.2 Generate and disseminate information on monetary, fiscal, real sector, public debt, and international reserves.” - CBU Strategic Initiatives for 2012 regarding national accounts statistics: “diagnose compliance status with international statistical standards and design a plan for implementing the emerging recommendations.” - The Strategic Plan and the Strategic Initiatives are posted on the CBU website. - Development of the national accounts program incorporates quality improvements identified in follow-up and periodic revisions. - Decisions weigh various dimensions of quality taking into account the volume of resources available. - Approach to optimize cost/benefit of national information system: - Incorporate best level (accuracy/reliability) measurements in less frequent measurements (annual and base year). - Measure changes from best level through more frequent measurements (quarterly and monthly). ### 0.4.2 Processes to monitor quality during planning and implementation - Procedures for monitoring quality: - Assessment on national accounts statistics conducted by ECLAC in May 2012 and a memorandum of understanding signed among the CBU, the NIS, and ECLAC to schedule and execute activities for changing the base year and implementing the 2008 SNA. - Structuring initiatives (as in 0.4.1) based on the IMF focus on gaps between the local situation and best practices in sources, methods, and results/statistical products; ESA indicated IMF recommendations on this report will help adjust and prioritize components. - The dissemination and revision cycle of national accounts constitutes an adequate procedure for monitoring quality in terms of factors explaining discrepancies between preliminary and revised estimates, allowing steps to reduce discrepancies when feasible. - The SCCA permits assessment and improvement of national accounts through compilation and reconciliation of supply and use tables. ### 1. Assurances of integrity — Institutional integrity (1.1) - Article 3 of Law No. 16.616: NSS agencies must objectively serve the purposes of their creation and act in accordance with principles including statistical confidentiality, relevance, transparency, rigor, technical autonomy, comparability, efficiency, regulatory centralization, operational decentralization, legal objectivity, and motivation grounds for the decision. - CBU characteristics: - Created by Article 196 of the Constitution of the Republic; an autonomous agency with technical, administrative and financial autonomy. - Staff positions are technical; promotions made on competitive basis with background evaluation, merit, and evidence of opposition. - Staff training and support for conducting research could be improved. - CBU governance (selected provisions): - Article 12 of CBU Charter: Board of three members appointed under Article 187 of the Constitution; members ensure independent judgment, efficiency, objectivity and impartiality. - Article 2 of CBU Bylaws: CBU officials are in the service of the nation and not of a political faction (Article 58 of the Constitution). - Article 17 (Ineligibility): Board members may not be appointed/maintained if (i) not citizens or without at least five years legal citizenship; (ii) under twenty years of age; (iii) under bankruptcy/insolvency or directors of insolvent companies liable for fraudulent or information hiding; (iv) persons who have committed noticeable irregularities found in financial means; (v) convicted of crimes that may have connection with the public; (vi) at appointment owners, shareholders, directors, partners, managers or employees of institutions regulated by bank. - Article 18 (Declaration of interest): Board members should declare before Board meetings all private interests that may give matters to be treated or resolved by the Board and shall refrain from speaking or voting on those matters; declarations are made at the start of Board meetings. - Although the tenure of CBU president is the same as that of the government, in practice there is no external or internal influence that could impact national accounts results. - Standards within the CBU establish professional behavior, courtesy toward respondents, integrity, impartiality in hiring, execution of official duties, and avoidance of third-party influence. - Recruitment and promotion: - Based on professional aptitude or expertise. - Vacant positions open to all staff; candidates selected according to technical requirements and evaluation results. - Contracts and hiring consider professional profiles. - Staff development: - Staff encouraged to attend seminars and pursue professional training. - CBU staff attends annual meetings of national accounts experts hosted by ECLAC, regional MERCOSUR meetings, and courses by CEMLA, the IMF, and the FIIAPP-Madrid. - Some case studies (FISIM, nonobserved economy) undertaken and presented at CBU Annual Conference of Economy. - Time slots are not especially set to conduct research during working hours. - ESA had a list of research topics to carry out and present during 2012 to implement the 2008 SNA; examples and dates presented to ESA: Changes introduced in ISIC Rev. 4 (12/04/2012); Goods for processing abroad (08/03/2012); Methodology for measuring agricultural work-in-progress (03/10/2012); The treatment of FISIM; the treatment of employment; a review of changes to the measurement of the gross capital formation: first assessment of its potential measurement in Uruguay. - Recommendation: - The CBU should comment more proactively on erroneous interpretation and misuse of CBU statistics in the media. ### 1.1.2 Choice of data sources, techniques, and dissemination decisions - Selection of source data and statistical techniques is based solely on statistical considerations. - National accounts are compiled in accordance with professional criteria, international standards and with complete independence. - Choice of sources and techniques based on measurement objectives and data requirements; cost considerations may sometimes determine selection. - Decisions to disseminate data are based on technical, available staff number, timeliness, and cost considerations. ### 1.1.3 Right to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse - Department of Institutional Communication manages CBU communication policy. - CBU follows the press carefully for references to CBU statistical products; ESA assistant selects articles relating to national accounts and external sector statistics and compiles them for staff access. - Four press conferences per year present monetary policy decisions to media. - Releases and statistical data sent to a list of 200 users (economic analysts, consultancy offices, public institutions). - Comments on GDP trends included in bulletin distributed to press by e-mail and posted on CBU website; bulletin identifies main underlying factors behind unusual figures and movements. - The president and the manager of the Economic Consulting of the CBU are entitled to respond to public criticism or misuse of statistics upon prior request from the Board; this entitlement has been used very rarely due to a conservative approach. ### 1.2 Transparency (1.2) - Law No. 18381 of 17 October 2008 on "Access to Public Information" promotes transparency and ensures the right to access public information. - CBU added a "Enable Transparency and Access to Information" menu item on its website; completed measures adopted since enactment of Law No. 18.381 and Decree No. 232/2010. - Measures taken by Management Committee at Board request: - Working Group on Transparency of seven members representing managerial and departmental units established. - Resolutions promoted by the Board: - Resolution D/201/2011 of 29/06/2011: Process requests for access to public information and delegation to the Superintendent of Financial Services. - Resolution of 04.12.2011 D/121/2011: Classification and confidential matters reserved and declaration of business secrets by law. - Resolution of 04.12.2011 D/123/2011: Modification of the Administrative Rules to match performance of rules on access to public information. - Resolution of 04.12.2011 D/122/2011: Active Transparency: designation of responsible by type of publication on the CBU website. - Three training workshops for officials on access rights and active transparency conducted by the Working Group on Transparency. - Items to comply with active transparency activated and available on the website. - CBU website includes Charter, Bylaws, and intranet-posted Code of Ethics; website contains directory of key personnel and e-mail addresses for contact; publications list contributors; CBU address, e-mail, phone and fax numbers provided; CBU Library provides information to the public. ### 1.2.2 Internal governmental access prior to release - National accounts are released simultaneously to all users; no person or institution outside the CBU has access prior to publication. - This principle is strictly observed and is informed in the metadata for national accounts of the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) posted on the IMF DSBB. - The CBU website has a link to the SDDS website. ### 1.2.3 Identification of statistical products - All CBU publications include the bank’s name and logo. - CBU policy: release publications on national accounts in a standard format (titles, colors, typography). - No joint publications with other institutions. - Third-party publications indicate the source when reproducing national accounts statistics. ### 1.2.4 Advance notice of major changes - Users are not informed in advance, via website articles or news releases, of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques (e.g., change in base year of national accounts). - Recommendation: - Announce in advance any planned changes in concepts and methodology. With major changes, users should be invited to provide feedback before they are implemented. ### 1.3 Ethical standards (1.3) - Code of Ethics of the CBU (RD/485/2010 of December 29, 2010) and the CBU Charter establish procedures for staff and organization when potential conflicts of interest arise, and include ethical standards to prevent misuse or misinterpretation of statistics. - Implementation facilitated by a solid ethical standards culture that discourages political interference. - Code available on CBU intranet and presented in orientation courses for new staff. - CBU Charter, Bylaws, Disciplinary Regulations (D 13/1994 of March 23, 1994), and Ethics Code include guidelines on staff discretion for reserved affairs, decorous conduct, incompatibilities and conflict of interest prohibitions. - Staff obligations include efficiency, regular knowledge updates, and proper use of bank’s goods. - Sanctions for noncompliance include verbal and written reprehension and dismissal. ### 2. Methodological soundness (2.) 2.1 Concepts and definitions (2.1) - General framework guided by recommendations of the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA). - Uruguay planning to start source data developments for implementation of the 2008 SNA in the near future. - The CBU will have a plan to adjust to international standards that includes adopting the 2008 SNA at the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. - Implementation of the 1993 SNA has been gradual with series base years: 1997 and then 2005. - Major deviations from 1993 SNA involve investment in in-house development of software; this issue is kept under review and on the agenda for 2008 SNA implementation. 2.2 Scope (2.2) - Uruguay has not implemented the 2008 SNA but compiles some 2008 SNA tables/accounts identified by ISWGNA as minimum requirement for implementation. - Uruguay compiles on a regular basis: - annual value added and GDP at current and constant prices by activity; - annual expenditures of GDP at current and constant prices; - annual value added components at current prices by activity, but with a delay of several years; - sequence of accounts for the total economy (until net lending) with an annual frequency; - annual rest of the world accounts (until net lending); - quarterly value added and GDP at current and constant prices by activity; and - quarterly expenditures of GDP at constant prices. - Uruguay does not compile the following minimum requirements: - annual nonfinancial corporation sector accounts (until net lending); - annual financial corporations accounts (until net lending); - annual general government sector accounts (until net lending); - annual household sector accounts (until net lending); - annual nonprofit institutions serving households sector accounts (until net lending); - quarterly expenditures of GDP at current prices; - quarterly sequence of accounts for the total economy (until net lending); and - quarterly rest of the world accounts (until net lending). - Uruguay compiles, with a lag, annual supply and use tables (one of the 2008 SNA recommended tables/accounts). - Uruguay does not compile the following recommended tables/accounts: - quarterly value-added components by industry at current prices by sector; - general government final consumption expenditure by purpose in current prices; - individual final consumption expenditure by purpose in current prices; - financial accounts for all sectors; - balance sheets, revaluation and other volume changes in asset accounts for all sectors; - quarterly nonfinancial corporation sector accounts (until net lending); - quarterly financial corporation accounts (until net lending); - quarterly general government sector accounts (until net lending); - quarterly household sector accounts (until net lending); and - quarterly nonprofit institutions serving households sector accounts (until net lending). - Delimitation of constituent units of the economy is broadly in accordance with the 2008 SNA; territorial enclaves in the rest of the world are included as part of the economy. - Free zones/bonded warehouses/factories operated by offshore enterprises under customs control are included in GDP, but issues remain converting exports/imports recording from external data to national accounts criteria regarding inventories kept in the free zone, storage services and other modern services produced in the free zone. - Workers who work part of the year in another country are recorded subject to data availability; this item is not important in Uruguay. - Goods sent abroad for processing that do not change economic ownership are recorded in exports and imports following 1993 SNA recommendations. - Items in scope for output measurement (irrespective of coverage actually achieved): - own-account production of all goods for own final consumption in agriculture and construction; - research and development for market and on own account (collected in surveys, but not relevant in Uruguay); - output of goods for own-account fixed capital formation (collected in surveys); - mineral exploration (obtained from the National Directorate of Mining, and being investigated); - production of computer software; and - illegal output sold to willing buyers (only contraband of fuel, cigarettes, beverages, among other products is included). - Production of entertainment, literary, or artistic originals is not included in the scope. - Items in scope for determining the assets boundary (irrespective of coverage actually achieved): - agricultural work-in-progress; - mineral exploration and evaluation (whether successful or not); and - systems and standard applications computer software and databases (purchased or built in-house) (coverage of databases is low). - Items not in the scope of the Uruguayan national accounts: - defense related assets that could be used for civilian purposes; - weapons systems such as warships, submarines, tanks, missile carriers and launchers, etc.; - valuables and historical monuments; - entertainment, literary or artistic originals; - research and development products; and - leases and other transferable contracts (such as purchased goodwill). - Recommendation: - Compile quarterly GDP by the expenditure approach at current prices and annual integrated accounts by economic activity. *Source: _cr1442 - 0.4 Other quality management* ### 2.3 Classification/sectorization ### 2.3 Classification/sectorization ### Classification and sectorization systems (findings) - Classification/sectorization systems used are broadly consistent with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. - The 1993 SNA is followed to classify institutional units and transactions. - Other flows are not compiled. - ISIC Rev. 3 instead of ISIC Rev. 4 is used to classify the principal economic activity (industry) of establishments and enterprises. - The product classification is compatible with ISIC Rev. 3, but not fully compatible with the Central Product Classification (CPC). - A national classification derived from the ISIC is used to classify products. - Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) is not used to classify household consumption. - Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) is not used to classify functions of government. ### Classification and sectorization (recommendation) - Apply the standard ISIC Rev. 4 and CPC Ver. 2 for classifying activities and products, respectively, the COICOP for classifying household final consumption expenditure and the COFOG to classify government final consumption expenditure in order to facilitate international comparisons. ### Basis for recording (findings) - Market prices are used to value flows and stocks. - All transactions are recorded at market prices prevailing at the time they occur in accordance with 1993 SNA recommendations. - Market output is valued at basic prices; - Output for own use is valued at equivalent market prices; - Taxes on products are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption; - Value-added taxes are included in the valuation of intermediate consumption, excluding the deductible part of the value added taxes; - The deductible part of the value-added taxes is excluded from the valuation of final uses; - Corrections are made when transfer prices are detected (electric inputs and syrups); - Information on insurance and freight for merchandise imports is available; - Total imports and exports are valued on an f.o.b. basis; and - Transactions in foreign currency are converted using the mid-point exchange rate prevailing in the market at the moment they take place. - Recording is done on an accrual basis. - Transactions and flows are recorded on an accrual basis. Work-in-progress is recorded in the period it is produced. - Government revenues are recorded on a cash basis. - Government expenses are recorded on an obligation basis, which still might have deviations from an accrual basis. - Adjustments are made in some cases, in particular on taxes on products to get to accrual basis. ### Basis for recording (recommendation) - Work with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to get government expenditure data on an accrual basis. ### Grossing/netting procedures (findings) - Grossing/netting procedures are broadly consistent with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. - Output of different establishments and activities in an enterprise are recorded on a net basis at enterprise level. - There are no data on the establishments that integrate an enterprise. ### Grossing/netting procedures (recommendation) - Conduct an integrated enterprise/establishment survey that includes the information of the establishments that belong to each enterprise when changing the base year of the national accounts. *Source: _cr1442 - 2.3 Classification/sectorization* ### 3.1 Source data ### 3.1 Source data ### Source data collection and institutional arrangements - Source data are obtained from comprehensive data collection programs that take into account country-specific conditions. - In Uruguay, source data for the national accounts—censuses, surveys, administrative records—are developed on a decentralized basis independently of the ESA of the CBU. - The business register/sample frame was partially updated since the economic census and is not updated regularly owing to budget and staff number constraints; only one staff updates the business register. - The business register is updated with data from income tax records available to the NIS and enterprises were classified based on their principal activity according to the ISIC Rev. 4. - The business register update has a lag of approximately six months. New enterprises are somewhat included, but enterprises that go out of business, change activity, or merge are not purged regularly; new enterprises are not included in a timely fashion. - The commercial business register is planned to be completed by including data of local commercial business collected at the time of the 2011 census. - The sample design targets representation for a breakdown level of the 10 or more employees; stratification variables include size of the unit and activity class. Sample parameters and weights are reviewed and updated annually, but the sampling methods have not been assessed. - Questionnaire testing has been limited: a pilot test in the field was conducted for only a handful of enterprises; no observational studies during questionnaire design; revisions occur but not regularly and rarely tested. - Efforts exist to reduce sampling and nonsampling errors and improve processing efficiency, but there is no standard to compare reduction or efficiency achieved. ### Coverage, periodicity, and relative reliability across approaches - Greater availability of source data exists for measuring GDP by the production approach than by expenditure; production approach estimates are considered more reliable than expenditure approach estimates, which are more reliable than income approach estimates. - Within production approach, traditional activities such as agriculture and manufacturing have more developed source data; some service industries have insufficient source data. - Periodicity of source data: - Production approach: monthly source data for some activities. - Expenditure approach: partially included on a quarterly basis. - Income approach: annual basis with long lags. - Issues in converting external trade recording to national accounts criteria exist regarding inventories kept in the free zone, storage services, and other modern services produced in the free zone; data on the free zone are incomplete. - The ESA strategy includes: - Intense use of the supply and use table (SUT) as a tool for integrating source data. - Relating sources among time series with different periodicity; the statistics collection program is a medium-term program coinciding with the national accounts compilation cycle (base year, annual, quarterly, monthly follow-up). ### Data sources by periodicity and sector - Monthly index of economic activity sources primarily involve production indicators by industry: direct indicators where available (e.g., monthly manufacturing statistics), indirect indicators converted to direct when necessary (e.g., domestic trade, transportation), building permits and square meters for construction, and export indicators for export-oriented products. - Quarterly accounts: exports and imports by type of product (available monthly but used quarterly); quarterly sources include register of investment projects, quarterly construction, domestic trade, and services survey, and monthly manufacturing. Good quarterly data exist for agriculture, electricity/gas/water, communications, financial intermediation, private social and health services, and taxes (as in annual estimates). Central government information is timely and good; departmental government quarterly data are not timely and have limited coverage. - Annual accounts: more detailed product information (e.g., annual agriculture data on crops and yields); surveys on construction of public sector buildings and large private works include a CBU survey on main engineering projects. - Production accounts by industry rely on enterprise surveys and financial statements; administrative records supply updated mining and fishing information. - NIS economic surveys have national coverage but only of formal enterprises (those on the register of economic activities from Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Bank) and represent the two-digit level of the ISIC, Rev 3 (deviation from best practice which recommends four-digit representativeness). - National survey of manufacturing collects detailed accounting-based information: operational income and expenditures, employment and compensation, production and sales of major products (volume and value), quantity and value of major inputs, inventories, investment by type, taxes, and depreciation. - Trade and services surveys have similar content and structure to manufacturing surveys but do not collect outputs and inputs in the same way; annual NIS surveys do not cover all service activities. - Timeliness and resource constraints: recent improvements reduced NIS survey result timeliness to less than two years, but validation limitations and resource constraints hinder timeliness and quality; CBU makes partial use of these surveys. Some surveys are very detailed, increasing respondent burden and reducing timeliness. - Government finance statistics: complete, detailed, and timely information on budgetary execution of the central government based on Ministry of Economy and Finance accounting records. - Financial statements obtained from financial institutions and some subsectors of transportation, communications, electricity/gas/water. Tax data processed by branch of activity used for validation and grossing-up factors. ### Price statistics and deflation practices - Price statistics used to compile constant price estimates are partially adequate. - For sectors with production determined from administrative records, values at constant prices are estimated by deflation. - Available price indices: CPI, PPI for domestic sales, index of construction cost. Imports and exports are deflated by unit value indices. - Exports have reference prices from domestic production; imports are more affected by unit value deflation. Constant price estimates of engineering works are obtained by deflation using construction cost indices. ### Base year compilation and household surveys - Base year compilation seeks best level for macroeconomic aggregates in SUT and is the only instance when production and absorption matrices are completely updated; ESA undertakes wide-ranging data collection for base year compilation. - NIS annual surveys are fully utilized during base year compilation because CBU allocates more time for validation and processing; numerous surveys and case studies were conducted for the base year to overcome source limitations for follow-up compilations, particularly for services. - Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES): - Conducted every ten years instead of every five years. Last survey conducted between July 2005 and July 2006 to obtain an independent estimate of household consumption expenditure for the 2005 base year compilation. - HIES rely on household registration from the preceding population census. Coverage of residential units has differed across HIES; the 2005–2006 survey reached full geographic representation though prior surveys sampled only cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. - Questionnaires for expenditure and household income are usually pilot tested. No observational studies were conducted during questionnaire design. Questionnaires are reviewed every time a new survey is conducted (average frequency every 12 years). ### Coverage statistics (selected aggregates and industries) - Coverage of source data for annual GDP: - 54 percent in 2005 - 55 percent in 2008 - Coverage of source data for quarterly GDP: - 48 percent in 2005 (base year) - 51 percent in 2011 - Coverage of source data for the monthly index of economic activity: - 22 percent in 2005 (base year) - 24 percent in 2011 - Selected industry gross value added weights and available source data (Annual: 2005 and 2008; Quarterly: 2005 and 2011; Monthly: 2005 and 2011 — figures shown as "weight" followed by "available source data") - AGRICULTURE, HUNTING AND FORESTRY - Weights: 8.5% 6.9% (annual table) - Available source data: 94.9% 95.2% (annual table) - Monthly weights: 8.5% 6.3% and available source data: 94.9%95.9% (monthly table) - MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES - Weights: 14.9% 15.3% - Available source data: 54.3%59.7% - Monthly weights: 14.9%13.1% and available source data: 54.3%59.0% - CONSTRUCTION - Weights: 5.5% 5.6% - Available source data (annual): 20.2%27.4% - Monthly available source data: 6.5%4.4% - COMMUNICATIONS - Weights (annual): 3.2% 6.4% - Available source data (annual): 86.9%80.9% - Monthly weights: 3.2%9.7% and available source data: 82.2%89.4% - FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION - Weights (annual): 5.4% 4.8% - Available source data (annual): 85.8%86.0% - Monthly weights: 5.4%5.5% and available source data: 0.0%0.0% - GDP - Weights: 100.0% 100.0% - Available source data (annual): 54.2%54.8% - Available source data (quarterly): 47.9%50.9% - Available source data (monthly): 22.0%24.2% ### Timeliness - Timely data: financial and insurance companies, prices, foreign trade, balance of payments, the general government, and CBU’s surveys are timely. - Timeliness issues: economic survey on manufacturing, construction, domestic trade, and some services is not adequately timely owing to insufficient NIS resources to regularly visit establishments. - Short-term surveys are timely. ### Key recommendations (as provided) - Update the business register regularly. - Use monthly value-added tax (VAT) data by economic activity to improve coverage of quarterly national accounts estimates. - Conduct a new Household Income and Expenditure Survey every five years to strengthen estimates for household final consumption expenditure. - The NIS should review and update the classification by economic activity of the business register obtained from income tax records and provide an improved version to the MEF, so that the MEF and the CBU can use the income tax records data with an updated and improved classification. - Expand the coverage of the annual surveys on construction and services to cover the private sector. - Conduct a quarterly survey on sales of services and on inventories of inputs and finished and resale products. - Review the Economic Survey to collect data of inputs and outputs of the establishments that integrate an enterprise at least for the new base year of the national accounts; cross-check all economic surveys to avoid duplication of data requests and make collected data consistent through the different periodicities. Apply a standard product coding in the survey, preferably CPC. - Improve the coverage of the economic survey, the surveys on construction, domestic trade and services (annual, quarterly, and monthly) as to cover 80 percent of the economic activity in the country. - Apply the economic activity classification of the economic survey (ISIC Rev. 4) to the permanent household survey in order to reduce the volatility of employment data by economic activity. - The NIS should review and update the classification by economic activity of the directory of enterprises obtained from the income tax records and provide it to the MEF, so that the MEF and the CBU could use the data from income tax records with an updated and improved classification by economic activity. *Source: _cr1442 - 3.1 Source data* ### 3.2 Assessment of source data ### 3.2 Assessment of source data ### Source data assessment and validation - Source data—including censuses, sample surveys, and administrative records—are routinely assessed for coverage, sample error, response error, and nonsampling error; results of the assessments are monitored and made available to guide statistical processes. - The ESA examines information received before using it and carries out consultations to the NIS on an informal basis to verify and confirm high value transactions. - Time devoted to evaluating annual data is greater than for monthly and quarterly data owing to the timeliness and limited detail of short-term data. - Information is not available about nonsampling errors for all surveys. - The NIS and the ESA keep archives for internal purposes on problems encountered (for example, issues of misclassification or measurement). - Information about imputations made to the source data is available, but imputed price data are not revised when the data become available. - Household surveys and some other surveys are audited to verify the accuracy of individual survey data. - The ESA of CBU validates routinely the data for temporal consistency; validation of NIS’s surveys is affected by resource constraints hindering the quality of source data for manufacturing, domestic trade, and some services. - The construction survey had a coverage issue in 2009 owing to NIS resource constraints and attention to other survey programs. - Regular monitoring is performed on the sampling errors of the Annual Survey of Economic Activity from 2007 onwards. - Partial information is available on some qualitative and sometimes nonsampling errors, including misclassification. Nonresponse is annually calculated. - The NIS does not have the practice of reviewing published data unless a significant error is detected. - The NIS uses editing procedures to detect anomalous differences in periodic responses and analyzes some extreme values; they are confirmed with respondents systematically, and e-mail confirmation is requested for changes to be made. No statistics are kept of interventions of this kind. - There is a monitoring process in some surveys to verify the accuracy of the data. - Consistency of the source data in the survey of economic activity is controlled and compared with other related data sources. The NIS also controls temporal consistency at informant level, but does not do it adequately owing to insufficient staff resources. - Most establishments are not selected from probabilistic samples due to lack of an up-to-date business register; therefore, coverage cannot be accurately assessed. Nonsample errors are not available for most surveys. - In the annual reconciliation of the SUTs by the CBU, source data are analyzed to correct deficiencies or errors, in particular to control consistency with previous declarations and with other related source data or exogenous sources. - Source data are analyzed in depth in the context of base year compilations and the effects of changes to questionnaires are evaluated when new surveys/questionnaires are incorporated. - Regarding administrative records, procedures to detect atypical values and the accuracy of the data are used. The exactitude of the statistics of foreign trade, their volume, and particularly of unit value indices is evaluated once a year. Recommendations: - Survey data should be internally and temporally validated by the NIS. - The data collected in other NIS surveys should be used to cross-check and validate the data collected in each NIS individual survey program. --- ### 3.3 Statistical techniques ### General compilation procedures - Data compilation employs sound statistical techniques to deal with data sources. - The NIS’s compilation procedures aim to reduce processing errors; however, some applications developed outside those systems are subject to a greater margin of error. - Other reference information is used in some surveys to cross-check the data; in others this procedure has not yet been established. - There are guidelines to proceed in the absence of coverage or some units of the population. - Grossing-up factors are mainly due to the resulting sample design. Imputation procedures and adjustment for nonresponse are mainly sound. - The CBU’s compilation procedures are structured in an appropriate data model that has contributed to reduce processing errors in the reconciliation phase. - Implementation of data modeling toward prereconciliation processes of products and industries is being applied. - Atypical values are not replaced or modified unless clearly warranted. Compilation procedures minimize processing errors such as coding, editing, and tabulation errors. Procedures for imputation and adjustment for nonresponse are soundly based. - Income tax records are used widely to grossing-up estimates to the populations in the base year compilation for products and industries, especially for services activities. - When source data come from yearbooks and statistical reports, the population is determined by using the “value = volume × price” framework. This method is applied for agriculture, forestry, livestock, fishing, construction, real estate and housing services, and some branches of the manufacturing industry. - Where income and financial statements are available from surveys, income tax declarations or accounting statements, the population is calculated by aggregating units: mining, electricity, gas and water, communications, public administration, financial services, and part of the manufacturing industry; or grossed up by using income tax records where only sample data were available: business and personal surveys and the rest of the manufacturing industry. ### Base year compilation projects and treatment - Projects were categorized: - Economic industries: preparation of production accounts (production, intermediate consumption, value added) using economic surveys, administrative records, financial statements and numerous statistics for volumes and prices; provided destination hypothesis data for products. - Cross-Industry: (i) compiling information that cuts across several industries (investment studies, changes in inventory, household consumption expenditure, rest of the world, small business, employment and compensation); (ii) build software processing platforms to update the data model used in national accounts and develop software for industry and cross-industry estimates; (iii) contribute to the last phase of the 2005 base year compilation program which involves reconciling the SUT of goods and services. - Primary information underwent classification, validation, standardization to national accounts concepts, and preparation of production accounts. - Data for 109 products and 92 industries were compiled and only disseminated at the level of 43 and 45, respectively. ### Other statistical procedures and revisions - The 2005 base year compilation is the fifth carried out in Uruguay, with previous efforts referring to 1961, 1978, 1983, and 1997. - Recent reduction in the compilation cycle from fourteen (1983–1997) to seven years (1997–2005) reflects efforts to strengthen national accounts revision policy and align with best international practices. - Results of the new base year compilation replace estimates that, in the context of the 1997 base year, were carried out for 2005. With the new 2005 base year compilation, previously estimated annual accounts were reviewed, as were quarterly and monthly estimates. Accounts for 2006, 2007, and 2008 were also revised in nominal terms and rebased in real terms. - The system used for the compilation of the national accounts is mainly based on an SUT disaggregated by activities and products to ensure consistency of heterogeneous figures and sources. - A supply-use balance is achieved (column labeled supply-use balance, with values of zero in all cells) ensuring for every one of the 109 products, domestic output and imports supplied at the basic price, plus margins and taxes, equal intermediate and final demand at purchaser prices; and for every one of the 99 industries, gross output at basic prices coincides with intermediate consumption and value added at purchaser prices. - Balancing requires modifying variables in the compromised identity (e.g., reduce supply components or increase use components when supply exceeds use), typically adjusting the least reliable source. - Balancing is simultaneous: reconciliation of products affects industries and vice versa. ### Frequency, benchmarking, and limitations - Monthly: volume index of economic activity exists. - Quarterly: production and expenditure approaches of GDP are combined in a partial SUT that considers supply-use identities at product level for some important products. - Annual: a complete SUT adds output-intermediate consumption identity determined simultaneously with GDP by production, expenditure, and income approaches. - GDP by production, expenditure, and income approaches are interrelated such that there is no independent estimate of GDP by expenditure; the commodity flow method is used, assigning use (absorption) based on the nature of the good and using SUT identities for residual determination of some macro aggregates. Inventories figures, trends, and implicit price indices are erratic because inventories are mainly obtained as residuals. - Absence of more frequent (quarterly) data is compensated with assumptions regarding relationships among less frequent variables (annual). - No direct quarterly sources for intermediate and final absorption by product; final expenditure level and composition are determined using the commodity flow method reconciled with indirect indicators for consumption, investment, and changes in inventory. Quarterly GDP uses a version of the SUT limited by lack of quarterly sources for industries and products. - Base year compilation is the sole source for the production matrix and the use matrix; less complete information is available at quarterly and monthly frequencies. - For quarterly compilation, information about value-added components is lacking. - Monthly index of economic activity coverage is limited and refers mainly to industry production indicators. - Estimation of variables not available at higher frequency assumes relations from less frequent compilations (base year/annual) remain constant (single indicator method). - The base year compilation for 1997 includes explicit estimates on nonobserved activities. Between 1997 and 2005, data on number of jobs and compensation of employees from the Household Survey were used for estimating nonobserved activities allowing full coverage of GDP. - Since 2006, the CBU has not integrated Household Survey data in the national accounts compilation framework owing to changes in survey coverage, but CBU is currently working on it. - Follow-up annual compilations do not include explicit estimates on nonobserved activities (including informal, hidden, and unrecorded activities); these are only considered implicitly in the SUT reconciliation using employment data. - Available household data on salaries and mixed income are not used to adjust household output, compensation of employees, and mixed income, which may imply: biased GDP growth rates, misleading information on structure of the economy, misleading information on the level of GDP, biased international comparability, and distortions in internal consistency of national accounts. Nonobserved activities, although quantified only for 1997–2005, might not be significant in Uruguay. Recommendations: - Update the base year of the national accounts supply and use table and develop plan for implementing the 2008 SNA as soon as possible with a clear timetable. - Improve estimates of nonobserved activities by using available income data from the permanent household surveys. --- ### Production approach procedures - Output, intermediate consumption and value added estimates are compiled at three-digit level of ISIC (99 activities and 109 products). - In the total estimate of value added, the use of fixed ratios from 1997 is around 60 percent and fifteen years old. - Owner-occupied dwellings: output is valued as the estimated rentals that tenants would pay for similar accommodation. - Work-in-progress is estimated for agriculture, standing timber (forestry), and livestock. Work-in-progress of large construction projects is not calculated. - Partial inventories data are used in estimates of output and intermediate consumption, but output and intermediate consumption are not adjusted for holding gains/losses on inventories. The perpetual inventory method is not used. - Cash data on taxes and subsidies are converted to accrual by allocating them to the period to which they relate. - Double indicator method (double deflation) is used to estimate 40 percent of GDP at constant prices. The single indicator method is used for the remaining 60 percent. - Volume measures of taxes/subsidies on products are estimated by applying base-year-tax rates to the volume of transactions subject to a specific tax/subsidy. - Output volume of trade margins are estimated by extrapolating the base-year-trade margins using volume extrapolators of sales. - GDP volume change is not calculated by using annual chain indices. The CBU plans to change the base year in the medium-term. Recommendations: - Update the base year of the national accounts by production and develop plan for implementing the 2008 SNA as soon as possible with a clear timetable. - Use available data on prices and volume to apply the double deflation/inflation method to main inputs and outputs on a quarterly basis. - Consider the use of chain indices for calculating volume measures. --- ### Expenditure approach procedures - Household final consumption expenditure, gross fixed capital formation, and changes in inventories are not independently estimated; they are calculated by applying the flow of commodities method. Household consumption expenditure was only independently estimated for 2005. - Household final consumption expenditure is compiled at product level, but is not reclassified at least at the one-digit level of the COICOP. - Government final consumption expenditure is not compiled at least at the one-digit level of the COFOG. - Gross fixed capital formation is only by type of assets. - Changes in inventories are compiled by products and not by activities and by type of inventories. - Government final expenditure excludes incidental sales. - Expenses of residents abroad are included in household final consumption expenditure and in imports. Expenses of nonresidents in the economy are excluded from household final consumption expenditure and included in exports. - Expenditures on items considered stores of wealth (such as jewelry, works of art) are not included in estimates of valuables. - Price deflators used: - PPI, March 2010=100 - CPI 2010=100 - Other dedicated price indices - The PPI, recently updated, is not widely used because it does not include prices of exported goods. - Export and import unit value indices are used to deflate export and import of goods, respectively. - Trade partners’ CPI data and the dollar exchange rates are used to deflate imports of services. - Household consumption implicit deflator is consistent with the CPI. - Government final consumption expenditure is derived by deflating cost components of output for final use. - Government value added is extrapolated by employment in the government sector. - Values at current and at constant prices of changes in inventory are estimated in the reconciliation process of the SUT; the deflators are implicit price indices. --- ### Specific quarterly compilation techniques - An appropriate benchmarking technique such as the Denton technique (P. Cholette, StatCan) is followed to combine annual estimates with quarterly indicators. - The quarterly compilation system derives quarterly series from seasonally unadjusted source data, thus providing unadjusted quarterly estimates. - Seasonal adjustment of quarterly national accounts estimates uses the X-12 ARIMA. --- ### Monthly index of economic activity (IMAE) - The IMAE is a Laspeyres volume index obtained by integrating the monthly production indices of relevant industries by the composition of value added for 2005, base year of this index. - Indices are compiled for: agriculture; fishing; mining; manufacturing; electricity, gas and water; construction; transport and communication services; trade, restaurant and hotel services; financial and business services; social and personal services; and governmental services. - The index covers 60 percent of GDP for the base year. - These indices present some deficiencies in coverage, especially concerning the production of personal and business services. - Seasonally adjusted data is calculated by using the X-12 ARIMA. Recommendation: - Improve the coverage of the monthly index of economic activity in order to disseminate it and use it in all its potential for policy decision making. *Source: 3.2 Assessment of source data and 3.3 Statistical techniques (Uruguay National Accounts).* ### 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs ### 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs ### 3.4.1 Validation practices - Intermediate results are validated against other information, where applicable. - Data derived from enterprise surveys are crosschecked against: - data on output derived from administrative sources, - merchandise trade statistics. - Basic data are cross-checked with information from other sources, when available (survey of producers’ associations such commerce and services, production data vs. financial statements). - Information on foreign trade is validated with data from agriculture, mining, and manufacturing corporations as well as from corporations from the free zone. ### 3.4.2 Assessment and investigation of statistical discrepancies in intermediate data - Ad hoc assessment of potential discrepancies is done in some cases (rice, syrups, paper pulp, fuel, meat, beverage, cigarettes and textiles), and checks occur after discrepancies are identified in the input-output matrix. - When discrepancies in intermediate data are identified: - they are evaluated and investigated to remove them through the controls and consistency checks of the SCCA; - specialists contact the NIS or enterprises’ accountants for explanations to reconcile unclear or irregular business survey information; - in some cases, respondents are visited to validate data. - Changes in inventories obtained as residuals are assessed. - Fixed ratios from 1997 (15 years old) are used to obtain 60 percent of GDP (noted elsewhere in the assessment). ### 3.4.3 Investigation of statistical discrepancies and indicators of problems in statistical outputs - The ESA investigates any statistical discrepancies and other potential indicators of problems. - The supply-and-use framework is used to make GDP estimates by activity and expenditure components consistent. - Changes in inventory are obtained as residuals and include the statistical discrepancy between supply and use components. - In general, discrepancies are assumed to be part of expenditures on GDP since sources on the production approach are more reliable. - ESA does not undertake an evaluation of data against unofficial estimates (e.g., from government units, universities, nongovernmental organizations, or international organizations) because: - The CBU considers it inappropriate to be possibly influenced by the results of outside agencies. - Private and public analysts’ projections are usually updated with CBU released data owing to the confidence on CBU statistics. - ESA does not carry out studies to ensure that bias in the GDP estimate is negligible and stable over time. --- ### 3.5 Revision studies ### 3.5.1 Internal use of revision analyses - Studies and analyses of revisions and/or updates are carried out and used internally to inform statistical processes (see also 4.3.3.). - The direction and magnitude of revisions between preliminary data and final data are not analyzed. However, current revisions are investigated. - When final GDP figures change with respect to preliminary estimates owing to coverage improvements, changes in trends are internally explained. These analyses are not published. - Adequate documentation on the analysis of major revisions, such as the change in the base year, is well maintained and includes: - description of causes of revisions, - methods used to incorporate new data sources, - the way data are adjusted. - Major revision studies are made when changing the base year, but regular revisions are not analyzed to detect bias in the series. Recommendation: - Reconstruct historical series as far back as reasonably possible, when changes in source data, methodology, and statistical techniques are introduced (e.g., change of benchmark year). Additional linked series on main macroeconomic variables for 1997–2011 should be reviewed and disseminated. --- ### 4 Serviceability — key findings related to assessment, revisions, and dissemination ### 4.1 Periodicity and timeliness - Periodicity follows dissemination standards: Quarterly national accounts are compiled. - Timeliness follows dissemination standards: - Quarterly GDP estimates are disseminated 75 days after the end of reference quarter. - Annual GDP estimates are disseminated within three months after the end of reference year. ### 4.2 Consistency - GDP estimates are derived by production and expenditure approaches; similar and consistent growth rates are obtained from GDP by activity and by expenditure category. - GDP estimates at current prices, volume measures, and implicit deflators are consistent within the “value = volume × price” framework. - Discrepancies between supply and expenditures are adjusted as part of changes in inventories since supply sources are considered more reliable than those of the expenditure side. - Concepts, definitions, and classifications used to compile quarterly GDP are the same as those used to compile annual GDP; quarterly estimates are consistent with annual estimates. - The latest major revision adopting base year 2005 allows for coherent time series for the period 2005–2011. - For 1997–2005, interpolation work prepared comparable series with 1997 as base year for the period 1997–2005, but these series are only published for GDP by the production approach. - Detailed methodological notes explaining breaks and discontinuities in time series are available. Any unusual changes in economic trends are explained in the analytical text of the Quarterly and Annual publications of the CBU. Recommendation: - Reconstruct historical series as far back as reasonably possible; review and disseminate additional linked series on main macroeconomic variables for 1997–2011. - Increase the level of detail of disseminated annual data at three digits of the ISIC. ### 4.3 Revision policy and practice - Quarterly data are preliminary when first released. The quarterly revision takes place every quarter during the current year and once annual data are released. - Annual preliminary data for the previous year are first released in March of the following year and are preliminary up to a supply and use table is compiled. - Data for the two previous years are usually revised. To the extent that annual data are revised more than once, quarterly data are also revised and made consistent with annual revisions. - There is no regular schedule for updating the base year. Current revisions have a regular schedule. Major revisions are analyzed, but specific causes of regular revisions are not analyzed. - The revision cycle is predetermined and reasonably stable from year to year and is made known to the public in advance on the CBU website. - Preliminary and revised/updated data are clearly identified: - The forecast of the percentage change of GDP at constant prices for the current year is presented in the monetary program posted on the CBU website. - The first annual estimate of GDP, based on quarterly estimates, is disseminated with more detail at current and constant prices in March of the following year. - Users are informed in a footnote in each table that initially published data are preliminary and subject to revision; preliminary data are labeled. - Revised data are disseminated with more detail; data remain preliminary until a supply and use table is compiled and disseminated for that year. - Analysis and causes of major revisions (e.g., change in base year) are made public; analysis of current revisions are not quantified. Revised and preliminary data are published for major aggregates to allow assessment of reliability; revised data are more detailed. Recommendation: - Taking into account future improvements in source data, increase the level of detail of disseminated annual data at three digits of the ISIC. --- ### 5 Accessibility — practices relevant to validation and use ### Data accessibility - National accounts are readily accessible on the CBU website. Annual and quarterly estimates are presented clearly with charts, tables, and analysis. - Some economic activities and expenditure components are not published with sufficient detail to facilitate meaningful comparisons. - Quarterly and annual data are disseminated for GDP in current and constant 2005 prices in pesos, volume indices, and implicit deflators, broken down by sectors of economic activity. - The CBU website disseminates quarterly and annual data with different base periods from 1983. - Linked time series are only available on the CBU website for GDP by the production approach for the period 1997–2011. - The SITE database is not made available to users on the CBU website. Detailed data are only available up to 2008. Data at 3-digit level are only available for some activities. Aggregated data are available from 2009 onwards. - Quarterly GDP by expenditure is disseminated only in constant 2005 pesos and volume indices. - Official estimates are published on the CBU website where annual and quarterly reports and tables can be found. Consolidated accounts are annually disseminated. Charts and briefings accompany data. - Statistics not routinely disseminated are made available to users upon request to the Institutional Communication Center via e-mail to info@bcu.gub.uy. ### Metadata accessibility - Methodological basis for national accounts is described in the CBU publication “Revisión Integral de las Cuentas Nacionales 1997–2008” and is disseminated through the CBU website. Historical data of 1983 Base (1988 Revision) are also on the CBU website. - Methodology of the SUT 1997, Cuadro de Oferta y Utilización 1997, Metodología, is available to users. - Different levels of data detail are made available to meet users’ requirements. Recommendation: - Increase the level of detail of disseminated national accounts data at three digits of the ISIC. ### Assistance to users - Prompt and knowledgeable service and support is available at the CBU Library and the Virtual Library for Economic Research (www.bvrie.gub.uy). - Two e-mail addresses for queries on national accounts statistics are available: ssfda@bcu.gub.uy and info@bcu.gub.uy. - ssfda@bcu.gub.uy was designed to request publicly available data through a questionnaire under the CBU’s active transparency initiative. - info@bcu.gub.uy was designed to request statistical data and provide comments and opinions. - Address, phone, and fax numbers of the CBU are available on the CBU website. Contributors in each subject field are publicized in publications. The Institutional Communication Department receives electronic queries and forwards requests to the appropriate contact person. - There is no established procedure to satisfy consultations from CBU’s visitors. Assistance to users is not monitored and revised periodically. - Publications are updated quarterly and annually and are free of charge to users. --- *Compiling Agency: Central Bank of Uruguay—CBU. Assessment text and findings as presented in the source document.* ### 4. Serviceabilit ### 4. Serviceabilit ### 4.1 Periodicity and timeliness - Marked with "X" in the source. ### 4.2 Consistency - Marked with "X" in the source. ### 4.3 Revision policy and practice - Marked with "X" in the source. - No regular schedule for updating the base year. - Current revisions have a regular schedule. - Major revisions are analyzed and published, but specific causes of regular revisions are not disseminated. ### 5. Accessibility — summary - 5.1 Data accessibility: Marked with "X". - More detailed data are only available up to 2008. - Data at 3-digit level only available for some activities. - Aggregated data are available from 2009 onwards. - Linked time series are only available on the CBU website for GDP by the production approach only for the period 1997–2011. - Long-time series are not available on the CBU website. - The SITE database is not made available to users on the CBU website. - 5.2 Metadata accessibility: Marked with "X". - 5.3 Assistance to users: Marked with "X". - No established procedure to satisfy consultations from CBU’s visitors. - There is an e-mail address on the CBU website to address consultations. - Assistance to users is not monitored and revised periodically. *URUGUAY — Price Statistics (Consumer Price Index) — Excerpts from "0. Prerequisites of Quality"* ### 0.1 Legal and institutional environment - 0.1.1 Responsibility and mandate - National Institute of Statistics (NIS) is responsible for collecting, processing, and disseminating the statistics. - Law 16 616, of October 20, 1994, defines components of the National Statistics System (NSS), mission of the NIS, statistical secrecy requirements, and mandatory provision of information by respondents. - Excerpted articles preserved verbatim: - “Article 1 – The National Statistics System is hereby created, which shall comprise the National Institute of Statistics and the statistics offices of the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary Branches; Court of Administrative Litigation, Electoral Court, Audit Office, Autonomous Agencies, Decentralized Agencies, and Departmental Governments.” - “Article 4 – The National Institute of Statistics is the governing body of the National Statistics System. Pursuant to the regulatory centralization principle and the technical independence on matters within its jurisdiction, the NIS shall issue regulations on statistical concepts, definitions, classifications, and methodologies, which shall be adopted by the statistics offices comprising the National Statistics System, with due regard to the constitutional and legal order.” - “Article 1 – Annex I of Decree 430/008 stipulates that Economic Statistics Division of the NIS is responsible for (i) producing economic statistics of economic activities; (ii) conducting studies and research in the area of economics; (iii) evaluating the quality of the information processed by the Division, prior to its publication; (iv) performing periodic reports, fulfilling requests, and produce research in the area of economics for the various members of the National Statistical System; and (v) coordination with the different areas of the Agency all aspects of economic statistics;” - A committee in economic statistics comprises the Director General (DG) of NIS and the Economic Statistics Manager of the CBU. - There is no oversight of the NIS to ensure statistical work is carried out in accordance with the laws; the DG may be called before parliament if necessary. - 0.1.2 Data sharing and coordination - Law 16 616 prescribes data sharing and coordination among NSS members. - Excerpted articles preserved verbatim: - “Article 2 – It shall discipline the planning, preparation and dissemination of statistics gathered by the public agencies comprising the NSS to ensure that those agencies will comply with integration, coordination, rationality and accuracy criteria.” - “Article 19 – Upon request, each Statistics Office comprising the National Statistics System must provide to other statistics offices within the System, the microdata received for statistical purposes, duly identified as such, provided that the following criteria are met: A) The requested data will be used solely for statistical purposes. B) The requesting office has the required infrastructure to secure the data. Should the data request be denied, the National Institute of Statistics should judge the validity of the grounds for denial.” - Infrequent coordination meetings are held to promote understanding of data requirements, avoid duplication, and reduce reporting burden. - 0.1.3 Confidentiality and statistical secrecy - Law 16 616 establishes statistical secrecy and obligation to use data solely for statistical purposes; disclosed in questionnaires and cover letters. - Excerpted articles preserved verbatim: - “Article 3 –....Statistical secrecy requires that individual data provided by data sources should be treated with strict confidentiality to ensure that the identity of those sources will not be disclosed...” - “Article 16 – Individual data provided for statistical purposes shall not be used for any other purposes, not even at the express request of the respondent.” - “Article 17 – Individual data provided by data sources to the National Statistics System are covered by statistical secrecy. The statistical secrecy duty applies both to the agencies and their employees, as well as to third parties that become aware of the data covered by statistical secrecy. The statistical secrecy duty does not apply to such general data as corporate name, domicile, economic sector, and size, provided by taxpayers, enterprises, or establishments involved in for-profit or not-for profit economic activities. However, data not covered by statistical secrecy shall not be identified or requested in such a way as to permit the uncovering of data whose confidentiality is legally protected.” - “Article 18 – The Offices comprising the National Statistics System may disclose only: 1. Aggregate or summary data corresponding to a group of data sources (macrodata). 2. Individual data relating to a single data source (microdata), provided that it does not disclose the identity of the source. 3. The data mentioned in the second paragraph of the foregoing article.” - “Article 30 – Failure to maintain statistical secrecy, or the use of individual data for one’s own or somebody else’s benefit, constitute a criminal offense as defined by article 301 of the Criminal Code (“Disclosure of confidential documents”), without prejudice to relevant civil redress.” - When small sample sizes prevent disclosure, data are indicated with an “(s)”; confidential data are included in aggregated computations but not reported at the disaggregated level if identification risk exists. - 0.1.4 Legal mandate for reporting and respondent measures - Law 16 616 mandates provision of data and establishes penalties for noncompliance. - Excerpted articles preserved verbatim: - “Article 14 – All natural or legal persons, nongovernmental public entities, and public sector agencies must provide the data requested for statistical purposes by the members of the National Statistics System, within the timeframe specified.” - “Article 15 – The data reported by the data sources shall be objectively verifiable (article 30). In order to meet this criterion, the reporting agency shall, whenever so requested by a Statistics Office from the National Statistics System, submit supporting documentation or electronic data.” - Work initiated to limit respondent burden and avoid duplicate data requests; progress noted but areas for improvement remain. ### 0.2 Resources - 0.2.1 Staff, facilities, computing resources, and financing - Management believes current staff levels and skill levels are adequate for existing workload, but reliance on contractual staff leads to higher turnover and wages are not adequate to retain experienced staff. - Restructuring initiated to improve compensation and job security and allow staff to exercise new duties. - Current computer hardware and processing software for CPI are capable of meeting immediate survey requirements. - Physical infrastructure (lighting, heating, phone lines, and furniture) needs urgent improvement. - Hiring through the Uruguayan public service system is slow; example: economic statistics unit requested 10 new staff 18 months earlier but they had not been hired as of August (year not specified in excerpt). - Salary scales set by public service authorities are not competitive for IT, statistics, and economics, causing retention and recruitment problems. - Computer backup system exists and is adequate for immediate needs. - Price index: Consumer prices - The CPI survey is conducted with 12 full-time people who compile, administrate, and manage the CPI survey. - No dedicated personnel for research, in-depth analysis, or development projects; environment described as “pure operations.” - Most current staff are relatively new to CPI and have limited experience; training and qualifications can be improved. - Risk of turnover given small staff size; at least two people are sufficiently familiar with the program to prevent short-run compromise of timely release if a key staff member is lost. - Staff lack time to improve skills or learn recent methodological developments. - Administrative/clerical salaries are competitive; more skilled and specialized staff are perceived as underpaid. - There are 17 price collectors for the country: 10 in the capital of Montevideo and 7 in the other urban areas. - These price collectors collect over 40,000 prices a month. - CPI basket updates could be more frequent with more resources; validation of weights data could be strengthened. - Processing software is often inadequate for updating expenditure weights; software not sufficiently flexible for reference year changes and requires human intervention. - Upgrades to processing system are done by CPI staff rather than specialized IT resources. - Budget allocation practices at NIS do not enable strategic resource allocation; no automatic or planned renewal of CPI basket updates is included in the budget, creating uncertainty for development strategies. - Recommendations (from source): - Ensure that the NIS has adequate financial resources, staff, facilities, and training, and take further steps to increase retention of qualified staff. - The legal framework to hire/contract staff by the NIS needs to be more flexible to accelerate filling vacancies with technical qualifications in economic statistics. - Initiate an employee rotation program to enhance the versatility of professionals and the versatility of skills of statistical units and teams in view of limited staff complements. - Improve the analytical capacity of the NIS CPI unit. - 0.2.2 Measures to ensure efficient use of resources - Annual staff performance reviews are conducted according to civil service directives but are not always effective. - Efficiency monitoring through periodic reviews of work processes is not conducted for the CPI. - No regular assessment of the cost of conducting the CPI survey, nor regular audits of staff levels and competence. - The CPI is viewed as efficient in meeting timetables, accomplishing much with little, but little analysis, validation, or development work is undertaken. - Outside assistance or expert panels are rarely consulted; exception: outside specialists invited during the last weights update to reconcile national accounts and household budget survey data. - Cost comparisons of the CPI program against other programs are not carried out. ### 0.3 Relevance - 0.3.1 Monitoring relevance and utility - The release calendar of all indicators, released at 2:00 p.m., is posted on the NIS website, which also lists an e-mail address for user comments or requests. - In late 2005, the NIS held consultations with main users for a National Statistical Plan; no such meetings since then. - No formal process to consult users or inform them about specific aspects of current data (detail, periodicity, timeliness) via client surveys, newsletters, or seminars. - User feedback is neither discouraged nor actively solicited; contact is available by phone or e-mail for the person responsible for the survey. - NIS participates in meetings and seminars organized by international/regional organizations (e.g., ECLAC), but resource limitations delay or prevent implementation of emerging issues. - Price index: Consumer prices - Most CPI staff participate in training, conferences, and workshops sponsored by the IMF and ECLAC on a regular basis. - Senior economist responsible for CPI is the main contact and responds promptly to outside questions from the CBU and other users. - No studies are conducted to identify emerging data needs for the CPI program. - No structured and periodic consultation process (e.g., users’ advisory committee or working groups) with principal users (policy departments/ministries, academia, press, private sector) to review usefulness or identify emerging needs. - New methodologies from external meetings are seldom implemented or are implemented with long lags. - Recommendation (from source): - Initiate regular consultations with public and private sector users, including through fostering users’ groups and establishing an advisory committee to improve the usefulness of statistics and advise on statistical program priorities. The advisory committee should include participation of academics, private sector analysts, and producers’ associations and meet on a regular basis (e.g., twice a year). *Source: _cr1442 - 4. Serviceabilit* ### 0.4 Other quality management ### 0.4 Other quality management ### Quality management: overview and implementation - The director general sets annual objectives that emphasize the importance of quality for the reputation of the organization and for users, but there are no tools in place to assess how the NIS in general and the CPI specifically have succeeded in achieving their quality goals. - Staff training programs put some emphasis on quality for the NIS and the CPI. For example, about two years ago, a quality control questionnaire was circulated to managers across the office to receive feedback about their perception of the state of the quality of their own program, including the IPPN. - The organization has implemented externally recognized processes or activities that focus on quality (e.g., Total Quality Management, ISO 9000, quality initiatives within the European Statistical System, and independent evaluations). Some statistical programs have applied ISO 2008, such as the program on construction statistics. However, these processes have yet to be applied to the CPI. - The NIS website includes the NIS’s so-called Quality Policy describing mission statement and quality management processes and practices; lack of resources has slowed full implementation of the program and some gaps and delays exist because of resource constraints. ### Processes to monitor quality during planning and implementation - For the CPI, there are no periodic or systematic reviews undertaken to identify the required steps to ensure that the quality and standards of the program are maintained at minimum acceptable levels. ### Assurances of integrity H3: Institutional integrity (professional independence, staffing, training) - Statistical policies and practices are guided by professional principles. - Law 16 616 addresses the general need for the professional independence of the NIS. Excerpts: - “Article 3 – The organizations comprising the National Statistics System shall fulfill in an objective fashion the purposes they have been created for, in full accordance with the law, and shall adhere to the following general principles: statistical secrecy, relevance, transparency, strictness, technical autonomy, comparability, efficiency, regulatory centralization, operating decentralization, legal objectivity, and sound decision-making... Technical autonomy refers to conducting statistical activities with independence and objectivity, based exclusively on statistical principles ...” - The Director General of the NIS is a political nomination; typically the appointee is a person from outside the NIS with credentials and experience in statistics, economics, social science, or business. - Staff capacity building is encouraged in a limited way via internal and external training, seminars, and international workshops (e.g., FIIAPP). However: - There is no formal and continuous training program or strategy in place. - No budget from the NIS is set aside for participation costs; efforts to train staff via regional workshops and courses depend on sponsoring organizations financing costs. - There is no internal training plan or systematic and organized workshops; most staff gain knowledge through on-the-job training. - Recently, staff were provided access to the Timbó portal for professional publications, which expanded staff knowledge. - The legal public service framework dictates recruitment and promotion; entry-level examinations and merit-based promotion apply. - There are no recurring activities to promote a culture of professionalism (accreditations, peer reviewed work, methodological papers, conferences, lectures). - The NIS does not discourage employees from research and analysis, but the work culture and lack of incentive mechanisms mean no programs exist to stimulate and support such activities. H3: Choice of data sources, techniques, and dissemination - Selection of the price sample and weights for the CPI is based on internationally recognized sampling techniques (e.g., selection of item based on the principle of the high volume seller). - Household sample for the budget survey is drawn using sound sampling principles; the sample frame does not exclude goods or services in the CPI scope; all households living in urban areas are included for weight estimation. - Decisions on data dissemination, timing, and media format are based solely on statistical considerations. - The NIS regularly tracks media coverage but typically does not initiate rebuttals or provide comments to correct erroneous interpretations or misuse of CPI data. H3: Transparency - Law 16 616, full text, survey methodology, and release calendar of all indices, plus a contact telephone number and e-mail address, are available on the NIS website. - Electronic surveys present main articles of the Law referring to statistical secrecy, legal obligations to comply, reporting requirements, and consequences of misreporting; such caveats are also included in e-mailed survey questionnaires. - Law 16 616: “Article 22 – All entities, whether public or private, have the right to receive the data produced by the National Statistics System, as well as information on classifications, criteria, definitions and methodology adopted in producing such data. (Transparency Principle, Article 3).” - The NIS actively promotes and informs users in public meetings and speeches about the conditions and terms under which it operates. - Data are disseminated to the public and authorities on the same day. Some series are sent earlier to the authorities but the public is not aware of these pre-release practices from NIS documentation or website; this practice is mentioned in passing on the IMF website under the SDDS protocol. - NIS releases and publications display the NIS web address; reports are identified by the NIS logo and methodological reports credit authors and staff. - Users are informed of methodological changes when possible prior to release; otherwise efforts are made to shorten the lag between publication and notice. For price index: Consumer prices, most users are informed at the moment of the first release when changes have been incorporated; informing users prior to release is not normal practice except perhaps when the notified party is the CBU. - Recommendation: - Announce in advance any planned changes in concepts and methodology. With major changes, users should be invited to provide feedback before they are implemented. H3: Ethical standards - All NIS personnel are made aware of the statistical secrecy requirement and must comply at all times. - Government-wide conflict of interest guidelines exist for civil servants and form part of contract agreements. - Law 16 616: “Article 30 – Failure to maintain statistical secrecy, or the use of individual data for one’s own or somebody else’s benefit, constitute a criminal offense as defined by article 301 of the Criminal Code (“Disclosure of confidential documents”), without prejudice to relevant civil redress.” - Managers report no recorded instances or recollection of political interference in the production of statistics. - Ethical standards are discussed during the mandatory introductory course for new staff, but the NIS does not regularly remind staff of ethical standards thereafter. ### Methodological soundness H3: Concepts and definitions - CPI concepts and definitions are based on international standards and recommendations and good practices. - Concepts and definitions for household consumption expenditures follow the 1993 SNA for determination of index weights. - Weights are based on expenditure information derived from the 2005–2006 survey of household incomes and expenditures and from national accounts information. - Product specifications in the basket are compatible with CPI manual. - There are 375 product categories associated with the CPI, and they are all publically available; the level of detail enables in-depth analysis of monthly inflation causes. H3: Scope - Household consumption expenditure data used in the CPI relate to urban households of all sizes and income levels; households living in rural areas are excluded. - CPI covers transactions of the household sector comprising final consumption expenditure per the 1993 SNA. - CPI basis: purchases of market goods and services for consumption. Excluded: sales of illegal market goods and services and own-account production for own final consumption. - Expenditures on housing of owner occupants are not represented in the CPI. - Recommendation: - Incorporate owner-occupied housing in the CPI. H3: Classification / sectorization - Classification and sectorization used for CPI compilation are broadly consistent with international systems and based on the 1993 SNA topology. - Since the last basket update in 2007, COICOP is used to classify consumption activities; at lower levels none of the internationally recognized product classification systems is used. H3: Basis for recording - Valuation rules follow the 2008 SNA. - CPI weights are valued on consumption expenditures at purchasers’ prices, including all VAT taxes, trade and transportation margins, and applicable taxes less subsidies on products. - Product specifications include price-determining characteristics (type of outlet, size, material, brand, last month’s price, current price, currency pesoss or dollars, etc.). - Discriminatory discounts are not typically accounted for in the CPI. - Recording is done on an accrual basis: prices recorded in the period purchased or posted. - Perishable items are collected more often and fresh fruit and vegetable prices are collected in mid-morning to capture representative consumer prices. - Grossing/netting procedures are consistent with standards (e.g., insurance: gross premiums minus claims; vehicles: price of new vehicle minus price received for sale of used vehicle by household). ### Accuracy and reliability H3: Source data: collection programs, coverage, and timeliness - Price collectors are responsible for ensuring the CPI sample remains adequate; they add new items when old ones disappear and monitor marketplace changes. - Every month the CPI collects over 40 000 prices, providing a statistically robust sample size for compilation. - CPI receives point-of-sale data from six retailers (many more outlets) from which a sub-sample is used to compile the index; Internet collection and administrative records also supplement the core collection. - Household expenditure and income survey used for weights: 2005–2006 survey; prior survey was conducted in 1997. Surveys are conducted infrequently and on an ad hoc basis with no scheduled dates. - Frame for the household survey is based on the most recent census, which is conducted on a five-year cycle. Probabilistic sampling techniques with known selection probabilities are used. - Household survey covers expenditures for the entire year, so seasonal spending patterns are accounted for but cannot be isolated with infra-annual data. - All resident households are covered except those in institutions or on military bases (estimated to account for approximately one percent of the total population) and those living in rural areas (approximately 10 percent of the population). Exclusions do not significantly compromise representativeness and credibility. - Questionnaires are constructed with sound design and subject to field/pilot testing; the survey is conducted only sporadically, leading to multiple changes each time it is run. - Sample and estimation procedures are sound; scientific random sampling and/or cutoff sampling are used; where frames are inadequate, judgmental sampling is used with well-defined and published selection criteria. - Price data are generally well defined with detailed product specifications; however, for some products specifications may be too broad, causing some price collectors to select items not perfectly comparable month-to-month, compromising the matched sample principle. - NIS collects comparable prices from outlets of the same type to control for outlet-type quality. - Ad hoc surveys are typically not conducted for the CPI. - CPI uses point-of-sale data from six retailer chains where the number of price observations per store typically does not exceed three. Rent information is obtained from landlords or the regulatory body responsible for rent controls. - Newspapers and media are sometimes used for validation but never directly in estimating the CPI. - The NIS does not organize periodic meetings with consumer groups and the business community to identify new product/market developments for the CPI. - International standards are monitored for changes relevant to CPI compilation. - Recommendation: - Conduct a new household Income and Expenditure Survey every five years to update the CPI weights. H3: Source data consistency and timeliness - Prices are collected monthly during the first 18 days of the reference month, aligning with CPI publication frequency. - This timing provides sufficient time for processing to ensure the CPI is released two days after the reference. - Point-of-sale data providers have been cooperative in meeting submission timetables; reminders have been sufficient in instances of noncompliance. *Source: _cr1442 - 0.4 Other quality management* ### 3.2 Assessment of source data ### _cr1442 - 3.2 Assessment of source data ### Assessment of source data (coverage, errors, audits) - Source data—including censuses, sample surveys, and administrative records—are routinely assessed for coverage, sample error, response error, and nonsampling error; the results of the assessments are monitored and made available to guide statistical processes. - The CPI has an integrated quality assurance algorithm that provides monthly reports on nonresponse rates, average price changes, and editing/imputation rates to production staff. - The organization has a quality management unit; however, the CPI has seldom called on this resource for methodological guidance (most activities have focused on census-related issues). - The NIS does not provide on their website or publish estimates of the extent of sampling errors, nonsampling errors, biases, over/under-coverage, misclassification, and nonresponse for the expenditure surveys. - The NIS audits their surveys/censuses to verify the accuracy of individual survey data. - The NIS uses an algorithm that produces monthly reports on the incidence of deletions, replacements, and imputations in the price sample used to compile the CPI; outliers are also identified and validated. - Price collectors use handheld devices; the software shows the last collected price so agents can evaluate legitimacy of current prices. Typical field threshold: five percent rule—if current price is + / - five percent over previously collected price, the agent reports to field supervisor for review and decision. - It is common practice for the NIS to evaluate the accuracy of administrative data received from government agencies, trade associations, regulatory authorities, etc. ### Statistical techniques and imputation - Statistical techniques employed conform to sound statistical procedures. - The NIS uses handheld computers for collecting prices; these devices plus the outlier detection algorithm in processing software help minimize processing errors. - Adjustments to unit records are made only when clearly warranted and can be identified in datasets. - Procedures for imputation and adjustment for nonresponse are considered sound. - If necessary, the NIS will sometimes draw some expenditure weights for the CPI from national accounts estimates for similar products. - Appropriate statistical methods are used to handle missing prices and the introduction of new products within the scope of the CPI. - Missing prices are qualified as temporary or permanent. For temporarily missing products, imputation methods include: - Impute the price based on month-on-month price changes from a higher group of related products, or a more targeted subgroup when judged appropriate (sample sizes permitting); the imputed price is posted in the database. - A limit (say three months) on how long prices are “temporarily” missing is established and adhered to. - The two-stage (modified) Laspeyres formula facilitates month-on-month imputation and is the recommended formula. - In cases of a temporarily missing item, price movement is imputed from similar items within the same product grouping. - Items are classified as (i) homogenous (e.g., most food items) or (ii) heterogeneous (e.g., clothing); classification is determined when the basket is updated and item list renewed. - Handling quality change when a new item replaces an old one: - For homogeneous items: - (i) If collector and supervisor determine comparability, apply “direct comparison” (all price difference is "pure" price change). - (ii) If not comparable, apply a quality adjustment factor to the new item resulting in a “link-to-show-no-price-change.” - For heterogeneous products, two imputation techniques can be used: - (i) Obtain the previous month’s (t – 1) price for the new item and construct the time-t price relative using the change between these two periods. - (ii) Use targeted imputation for the month the new item is introduced; subsequent price relatives are based on the new item only. - Targeted imputation requirements: - Require at least 33 percent (and at least two observations) of real (nonimputed) prices from within the product group for the item being imputed. - If real prices fall below 33 percent (or less than two prices), the imputation source becomes the price index one level up in the aggregation structure. - Seasonal products: - Same approach as method (ii) but sample of real prices must account for at least 50 percent (and at least two prices) within the product group. - If not satisfied, last observed price is used (carry-forward method). - New products are sometimes introduced into the sample when deemed to have gained sufficient market share. ### Aggregation, weights, and formulas - Household consumption expenditure, as defined in 1993 SNA, is the conceptual basis for CPI weights. - The geometric mean of price relatives is used to aggregate individual unweighted price observations. - The CPI uses the short-term link relative approach in its compilation. - Weight reference period: 2005–2006; link month: March 2010. - As a result, the formula for calculating the CPI can best be qualified as a Lowe index. - The current CPI weights relate to 2005–2006 expenditure patterns; delaying introduction of the new basket to March 2010 is considered suboptimally long. - New weights were linked to the old index using internationally accepted practices and procedures. ### Recommendations (from source) - Conduct a new household Income and Expenditure Survey every five years to improve the relevance of the CPI weights. - Establish a regular cycle for updating the CPI basket on a timely basis. Advantages listed: - Improve the relevance of the CPI for current economic conditions. - Improve the planning and organization of the resource requirements for updating the basket. ### Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs - The CPI is never compared at a detailed level with estimates from other major price indices such as the PPI, export price indices, and import price indices. - Recommendation: - Institute more data confrontation-type analysis for validation of results using alternative data sources. - Threshold for monthly price variations of individual items is + / - five percent; price fluctuations exceeding this range are noted and investigated for accuracy. - Discrepancies from inconsistent imputation or aggregation inconsistency are assessed using the screening and processing tool that reports issues prior to finalizing the index; appropriate adjustments are then made. ### Revision studies and practices - No studies are conducted that analyze effects of weight revisions and updates to determine the extent of substitution bias on the CPI. - The NIS conducts studies of long-term trends in revision patterns of the data. - No studies investigate other sources of errors/bias in the CPI. - Documentation on revisions to weights exists in the methodological document released with the weights. Given that the index series is never revised, no documentation is prepared on that subject. ### Serviceability: periodicity, timeliness, and consistency - Periodicity: The CPI is compiled monthly (SDDS). - Timeliness: The monthly estimates are disseminated two days after the end of reference month (SDDS). - Internal consistency: - Estimates for all classification typologies of the CPI are consistent such that the all-items aggregate is invariant to typology of aggregation. - Consistent time series data for the CPI are available for at least five years and are consistent over this period for 12-month comparisons. - Past estimates are never revised or reconstructed even when new weights are introduced. - No methodological notes are produced identifying and explaining main breaks and discontinuities in time series, their causes, or adjustments made to maintain consistency when they occur. - Text in releases only covers basic month-over-month and 12-month changes; it never includes explanations or analysis of changes in trends or short-term behavior. The online database similarly lacks such analysis. - Recommendation: - Reconstruct historical series as far back as reasonably possible when changing the base year. - Consistency with other macro aggregates: - CPI structure is generally consistent with the implicit consumption deflator of the national accounts. The NIS does not invest time in exploring or analyzing divergences between the series (same applies with the IPPN). ### Revision policy and practice (detailed) - Monthly CPI estimates of Uruguay are never revised. Weights are updated from time to time but not on a predictable pattern; changes in methodology are mainly introduced during basket updates. Users are rarely informed in advance of methodological changes or a new basket. - Recommendations: - Use basket update exercises as an opportunity for comprehensive review of CPI procedures, concepts, and methods; refresh choice of sample of representative products when updating the basket. - Undertake a study of differences between the household expenditure survey and comparable components of national accounts household consumption expenditure and consider using national accounts data as source of, or control for, CPI weights. Advantages listed: - Improved coherence between CPI and national accounts. - Weighting information that incorporates recent household expenditure survey plus retail sales and other current information with better coverage of certain household expenditure components. - More timely CPI weights, reducing lag between weight reference year and price reference month. - Possibility of updating basket weights more often and at lower cost. - The agency has adopted a clear and consistent revision policy; the NIS has no explicit revision policy. Errors or newly discovered data lead to corrections. Updates of CPI weights and basket occur on an as-needed basis and may allow weights to go unrevised for more than five years. - Preliminary and revised data identification: - The CPI is always considered final and thus nonrevisable; this is clearly stated to users. - Studies and analyses of revisions: - Weight updates are not measured, assessed, nor explained in statistical publications nor in the NIS publicly accessible database. - Since monthly CPI is never revised, no analysis is conducted comparing revised and preliminary estimates. - Although CPI weights are periodically updated and revised, no empirical studies quantify the effect on the CPI following introduction of new basket weights. ### Accessibility: dissemination, metadata, and user assistance - Presentation and formats: - CPI statistics are disseminated in a straightforward table with brief text highlighting recent changes, facilitating re-dissemination by media. - More comprehensive statistics are accessible on day of release from a database on the NIS website (http://www.ine.gub.uy). - Statistics are disseminated in formats for electronic and paper media; detailed statistics are available electronically via the NIS website or an electronic database maintained by or on behalf of the producing agency. - Release schedule and equal access: - A preannounced schedule announces CPI release dates. - Statistics are made available to all users at the same time except the Central Bank of Uruguay, which receives the data about two hours prior to official release. - The press is not briefed in advance. - Special requests: - Special arrangements can be made on request, subject to statistical secrecy; special/custom tabulations are available upon request, usually free unless extraordinary resources are required. - Metadata accessibility: - Methodology and conceptual basis are available from the NIS website. Documents include: - Índice de Precios Del Consumo Cambio de Base–Diciembre 2010 Nota Metodológica (highlights modifications since 1997 revision). - Metodológica Índice de los Precios del Consumo Base Marzo 1997 (more comprehensive technical source). - These publications include concepts, definitions, classifications, data sources, compilation methods, statistical techniques, and other methodological aspects. NIS does not routinely document deviations from internationally accepted standards. - SDDS metadata are sent to the central bank as changes occur and then posted on the IMF website. - Levels of detail and user materials: - The NIS does not provide general use information such as brochures or a FAQ page about the CPI. - The NIS does not typically produce specialized use information (background papers, working documents) for the CPI; such information is not available to outside users. - User assistance: - Contact points are publicized in each questionnaire and on the NIS website homepage; prompt and knowledgeable service and support are available. - Materials for educational purposes for schools are available on the NIS website. No special information is available for researchers. - There is no monitoring of quality regarding turnover time for requests by e-mail or phone, and no explicit policy or guideline for response time; assumption is that readily available information will be provided swiftly. - Publications and charges: - The NIS publishes a catalogue of publications and statistics, updated every year; publications are accessible on the agency website. - The NIS discontinued paper publications more than 10 years ago; all documentation is strictly available online. - All statistical information, including data and publications, are available without charge to the public. *Source: _cr1442 - 3.2 Assessment of source data (PDF chapter/section).* ### 0.2 Resources ### 0.2 Resources ### Key findings on resources - Given more resources, the CPI basket could be updated more frequently and under a more structured and tighter schedule. - More analysis could be conducted to ensure a proper validation exercise of the weights data. - There are some gaps and delays for the full implementation of the program because of resource constraints. - No budget from the NIS is set aside for training activities; more resources are needed so that more progress can be achieved (e.g., more staff with the needed computer skills such as developers and programmers). ### 0.3 Relevance ### Key findings on user engagement and relevance - There is no formal process in place to consult users or inform them about specific aspects of the current data (e.g., usefulness in terms of detail, periodicity, and timeliness) either through client surveys, newsletters, or seminars. ### 0.4 Other quality management ### Key findings on quality management - There are no tools in place to assess how the NIS in general and the CPI specifically have succeeded in achieving their quality goals. ### 1. Assurances of integrity ### 1.1 Institutional Integrity - There is no formal and continuous training program or strategy in place. - No budget from the NIS is set aside for these types of activities. - There is no internal training plan or systematic and organized workshop series; most staff gain their knowledge through on-the-job training. - There are no activities in the workplace to promote a culture of professionalism. - Accreditations, peer reviewed work, authoring of methodological papers, and the organization of conferences and lectures are not recurring activities at the NIS. - The current environment and work culture is not conducive for the promotion and execution of research and analysis. - No programs exist to stimulate and support such activities. ### 1.2 Transparency - Under exceptional circumstances, some users are informed of methodological changes prior to the release, but this is not normal practice except perhaps when the notified party is the CBU. ### 1.3 Ethical standards - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) *Price Statistics (Consumer Price Index) — Data Quality Assessment Framework (2012): Summary of Results for Consumer Price Index (Compiling Agency: National Institute of Statistics—NIS).* ### 2. Methodological soundness ### 2.1 Concepts and definitions - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 2.2 Scope - The expenditures on housing of owner occupants are not represented in the CPI. ### 2.3 Classification/sectorization - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 2.4 Basis for recording - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 3. Accuracy and reliability ### 3.1 Source data - For some products, the specifications may be too broad, leading some price collectors to select items that are not necessarily perfectly comparable from one month to the next, thus somewhat compromising the matched sample principle. - Ad hoc surveys are typically not conducted by the NIS for the CPI. - The NIS does not organize periodic meetings with consumer groups and the business community to identify new product/market developments for the CPI. ### 3.2 Assessment of source data - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 3.3 Statistical techniques - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 3.4 Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs - The CPI is never compared at a detailed level with estimates from other major price indices such as the PPI, export price indices, and import price indices. ### 3.5 Revision studies - No studies are conducted that analyze the effects of weight revisions and updates to determine the extent of the substitution bias on the CPI. - The NIS does conduct studies of long-term trends in the revision patterns of the data. - No studies to investigate other sources of errors/bias in the CPI are undertaken. ### 4. Serviceability ### 4.1 Periodicity and timeliness - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 4.2 Consistency - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 4.3 Revision policy and practice - There is no explicit revision policy at the NIS. - If an error occurs or a new data are discovered, then the series will be corrected. - Update of CPI weights and of the CPI basket of items are on an as-needed basis that may allow the weights to go unrevised for more than five years. - No empirical study or analysis is conducted comparing and quantifying the effect on the CPI following the introduction of new basket weights. ### 5. Accessibility ### 5.1 Data accessibility - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) ### 5.2 Metadata accessibility - The NIS does not provide general use information such as brochures or a FAQ page about the CPI. - The NIS does not typically produce specialized use information (e.g., background papers, working documents) for the CPI; hence such information is not available to outside users. ### 5.3 Assistance to users - (Marked with X in assessment table; no additional descriptive text provided in this excerpt.) --- ### Price Statistics (Producer Price Index) — Prerequisites and institutional arrangements ### Legal and institutional environment (0.1) - The responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating the statistics is clearly specified: National Institute of Statistics (NIS). - Law 16 616, of October 20, 1994, defines the components of the National Statistics System (NSS), the mission of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), the statistical secrecy requirements, and the mandatory provision of information by respondents, inter alia. - Article 1 – The National Statistics System is hereby created, which shall comprise the National Institute of Statistics and the statistics offices of the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary Branches; Court of Administrative Litigation, Electoral Court, Audit Office, Autonomous Agencies, Decentralized Agencies, and Departmental Governments. - Article 4 – The National Institute of Statistics is the governing body of the National Statistics System. Pursuant to the regulatory centralization principle and the technical independence on matters within its jurisdiction, the NIS shall issue regulations on statistical concepts, definitions, classifications, and methodologies, which shall be adopted by the statistics offices comprising the National Statistics System, with due regard to the constitutional and legal order. Pursuant to the operational decentralization principle, statistical production shall be assigned to each statistics office according to their corresponding areas of expertise. - A committee has been created in the field of economic statistics comprising the Director General of NIS and the Economic Statistics Manager of the Central Bank of Uruguay (CBU). - There is no oversight of the NIS in order to ensure that statistical work accords with the laws governing the collection, reporting, and dissemination of statistics. However the Director General may be called to parliament if required to answer questions with regards to the mission of the NIS and related matters. - Price index: Producer prices — Article 64 of the Law requires that NIS publish and disseminate on NIS's web page data on producer prices to the public. - In 1997 the responsibility of producing the Indice de precios al productor de productos nacionales (IPPN) was transferred to the NIS from the CBU. - In 2001, the title of the index was changed to IPPN from the wholesale price index. ### Data sharing and coordination (0.1.2) - Law 16 616 determines the need and the duty of the NSS to share data and coordinate its operations. - Article 2 – It shall discipline the planning, preparation and dissemination of statistics gathered by the public agencies comprising the NSS to ensure that those agencies will comply with integration, coordination, rationality and accuracy criteria. - Article 19 – Upon request, each Statistics Office comprising the National Statistics System must provide to other statistics offices within the System, the microdata received for statistical purposes, duly identified as such, provided that the following criteria are met: - A) The requested data will be used solely for statistical purposes. - B) The requesting office has the required infrastructure to secure the data. - Should the data request be denied, the National Institute of Statistics should judge the validity of the grounds for denial. - Infrequent coordination meetings between the NIS and the individual members of the NSS are held to promote a proper understanding of data requirements and needs, to avoid duplication of effort, and to reduce reporting burden. - For the IPPN, the principal data sharing partner is the CBU; meetings are held according to need and not at pre-determined intervals. ### Confidentiality and statistical secrecy (0.1.3) - Law 16 616, of October 20, 1994, establishes the statistical secrecy rule as well as the obligation to use data solely for statistical purposes; this is disclosed in questionnaires and cover letters. - NIS officials must comply with statistical secrecy requirements; access to survey data is limited to personnel directly involved and their superiors. - Article 3 – Statistical secrecy requires that individual data provided by data sources should be treated with strict confidentiality to ensure that the identity of those sources will not be disclosed. - Article 16 – Individual data provided for statistical purposes shall not be used for any other purposes, not even at the express request of the respondent. - Article 17 – Individual data provided by data sources to the National Statistics System are covered by statistical secrecy. The statistical secrecy duty applies both to the agencies and their employees, as well as to third parties that become aware of the data covered by statistical secrecy. The statistical secrecy duty does not apply to such general data as corporate name, domicile, economic sector, and size, provided by taxpayers, enterprises, or establishments involved in for-profit or not-for profit economic activities. However, data not covered by statistical secrecy shall not be identified or requested in such a way as to permit the uncovering of data whose confidentiality is legally protected. - Article 18 – The Offices comprising the National Statistics System may disclose only: - Aggregate or summary data corresponding to a group of data sources (macrodata). - Individual data relating to a single data source (microdata), provided that it does not disclose the identity of the source. - The data mentioned in the second paragraph of the foregoing article. - Article 30 – Failure to maintain statistical secrecy, or the use of individual data for one’s own or somebody else’s benefit, constitute a criminal offense as defined by article 301 of the Criminal Code (“Disclosure of confidential documents”), without prejudice to relevant civil redress. - When small sample size prevents disclosure due to statistical secrecy, this is indicated by an “(s)”. Data that cannot be reported are included in the computation of more aggregated levels; confidentially of the reporting entity is guaranteed. - For the IPPN, the NIS will not publish an index if there are fewer than two producers in the sample, except state-owned monopolies where price indices for their output are published. ### Statistical reporting mandate and response encouragement (0.1.4) - Law 16 616 establishes the statistical secrecy rule as well as the penalties to be applied for noncompliance. - Article 14 – All natural or legal persons, nongovernmental public entities, and public sector agencies must provide the data requested for statistical purposes by the members of the National Statistics System, within the timeframe specified. - Article 15 – The data reported by the data sources shall be objectively verifiable (article 30). In order to meet this criterion, the reporting agency shall, whenever so requested by a Statistics Office from the National Statistics System, submit supporting documentation or electronic data. - Work has been initiated to address the overload issue, with an attempt not to resend data requests that can be used in two surveys; a report has been produced and a strategy is in place. Some progress has been made, but more resources are needed to achieve further improvements. *Compiled from the IMF Data Quality Assessment excerpt for Uruguay: Price Statistics (Consumer Price Index) and Price Statistics (Producer Price Index).* ### 0.2 Resources ### _cr1442 - 0.2 Resources ### 0.2.1 Staff, facilities, computing resources, and financing are commensurate with statistical programs - National Institute of Statistics (NIS) findings: - "The current number and skill level of staff is adequate to meet the existing workload." - Heavy reliance on contractual staff → higher turnover than desired; wages are not adequate. - A restructuring process has been initiated to improve compensation, job security, and enable the possibility of assuming new tasks. - Computer hardware, software, and related support meet immediate survey requirements. - Physical infrastructure in areas where price indices are produced (lighting, heating, phone lines, and furniture) needs improvement. - Hiring new staff can be a long process: the economic statistics unit expressed a need for "10 new staff members 18 months ago" but they have not been hired due to the centralized hiring process in the Uruguayan public service. - Wages are set by the Uruguayan public service authorities and "appear not to be competitive" for IT specialists, statistics, and economics, causing recruitment and retention difficulties. - Hardware and software distribution facilitates efficient collection and processing; a backup system exists and is adequate for immediate needs. - Price index: Producer prices (IPPN) findings: - Survey staffing: "one full-time person" for administration, "another part-time person" for analysis, and "a part-time supervisor" to compile, publish, and disseminate the IPPN. - Sufficient staff to process the current IPPN survey operationally; no dedicated personnel for research, sophisticated analysis, or developmental issues. - Current environment: "pure operations with little time or resources left for doing analysis and development work." - Most staff are fairly new to the IPPN with limited experience; training and qualifications "can certainly be enhanced in the area of producer price statistics." - At least two staff members are sufficiently familiar that the short-run loss of a key specialist would not handicap timely production. - Workload prevents staff from improving skills or adopting recent methodological developments in producer prices. - Administrative/clerical salaries are "appropriate" and competitive with similar government roles; professional staff remuneration "falls short" of peers in other departments. - Uncompetitive wages have led to higher-than-average turnover, recruitment challenges, and morale problems. - Electronic data capture forms reduced collection costs and number of collection/data processing agents; with more resources the IPPN basket could be updated more frequently. - Computer processing software is "often inadequate"—e.g., inflexibility for reference year changes and basket updates; upgrades handled by IPPN staff rather than specialized IT resources due to shortage. - Budget allocation process at NIS "does not allow an allocation for which the manager believes will provide the greatest benefits" to programs. - No information is available on the program's funding; automatic/planned renewal of IPPN basket updates is "not included in the budget," making strategy/calendar development difficult. - Recommendations (from source): - Ensure that the NIS has adequate financial resources, staff, facilities, and training, and take further steps to increase retention of qualified staff. - The legal framework to hire/contract staff by the NIS needs to be more flexible to accelerate filling vacancies with technical qualifications in economic statistics. - Initiate an employee rotation program to enhance the versatility of professionals and the redundancy of skills of statistical units and teams in view of limited staff complements. ### 0.2.2 Measures to ensure efficient use of resources are implemented - Staff performance and efficiency: - Staff performance reviews are conducted annually per civil service directives but are "not always effective" for improving efficiency and performance. - Electronic survey implementation (e-mail forms introduced in 2007) aimed to reduce material and personnel costs by discontinuing paper surveys. - New technologies planned to save paper and reduce staff needs; electronic data collection intended to shift work focus to data analysis rather than data entry. - Coordination with other public agencies (e.g., tax department) to use administrative records to update the Permanent Register of Economic Activities (PRAE). - Efficiency observations for IPPN: - Given the small staff, the IPPN "is running quite efficiently" and "scores very well on the efficiency scale: they accomplish much with little." - Little analysis, validation, or development work is done beyond maintaining current quality and prompt release. - Outside assistance to evaluate methodology/compilation is sought "very rarely" and "usually when more serious issues" arise; last outside help was "about five years ago." - Harmonization efforts: classification system harmonized in 2005; modernization from ISIC Rev. 3 to ISIC Rev. 4 has not progressed because of systems limitations. - Duplication in respondent burden: IPPN and industrial production index often consult the same respondents at different times in the same month and collect similar information; systems limitations prevent better harmonization. - Financial costs of resource use for IPPN are "never estimated" nor compared to costs of other statistical programs; no budgeting exercises to support resource allocation decisions. ### 0.3 Relevance - 0.3.1 Monitoring relevance and practical utility: - NIS release calendar: all indicators released at "2:00 p.m." and posted on the NIS website with an e-mail contact for users. - User consultations: meetings with main users were held in late 2005 as input for the National Statistical Plan; "no similar meetings have been held since then." - No formal process to consult users or inform them about data aspects (detail, periodicity, timeliness) via surveys, newsletters, seminars, or workshops; user feedback is not actively solicited though not discouraged. - Contact persons (usually survey responsible) are available by phone or e-mail for user queries; users' concerns are noted and addressed "to the extent possible." - Price index: Producer prices: - Most IPPN staff "participate in various training courses, conferences, and workshops sponsored by the IMF and ECLAC on a regular basis." - Senior economist responsible for the IPPN is the dedicated person for user questions and "promptly responds" to outside questions from the BCU and other users. - NIS participates in international/regional statistical meetings (e.g., ECLAC); resource limitations mean new initiatives/methodologies from these meetings are "seldom implemented in a timely way." - NIS does not actively conduct studies or produce research to identify emerging data needs for the IPPN program. - Recommendation (from source): - "Initiate regular consultations with public and private sector users, including through fostering users’ groups and an advisory group to improve the usefulness of statistics and advise on statistical program priorities. The advisory committee should include participation of academics, private sector analysts, and producers’ associations and meet on a regular basis (e.g., twice a year)." ### 0.4 Other quality management - 0.4.1 Processes to focus on quality: - Director General (DG) sets annual goals and stresses quality importance, but "there is no mechanism to assess" achievement or improvement of quality for NIS/IPPN. - Staff training emphasizes quality; about two years ago a quality control questionnaire was circulated to managers to solicit perceptions of program quality. - Some statistical programs have applied ISO 2008 (e.g., construction statistics); these processes have "not yet been applied or implemented" for the IPPN. - NIS website includes a Quality Policy articulating commitment to quality and a quality management system. - 0.4.2 Processes to monitor quality during planning and implementation: - Quality controls applied to monitor nonreporting units and serve as a basis for monitoring/evaluating indices. - Determinants of changes in the index are detected and analyzed to uncover inconsistencies. - NIS processes observe main total quality management principles: periodicity, timeliness, accessibility, completeness, and transparency. ### 1. Assurances of Integrity - 1.1 Institutional Integrity (NIS) - 1.1.1 Impartial production: - Professional independence and technical autonomy are recognized as necessary for credibility. - Staff capacity building is encouraged but limited; no formal and continuous training program or strategy is in place. - Law 16 616 supports professional independence; Article 3 lists principles including "statistical secrecy, relevance, transparency, strictness, technical autonomy, comparability, efficiency, regulatory centralization, operating decentralization, legal objectivity, and sound decision-making.... Technical autonomy refers to conducting statistical activities with independence and objectivity, based exclusively on statistical principles..." - The Director General is a political nominee, typically from outside the NIS with relevant credentials. - Training participation is supported when no costs are incurred; no formal budget dedicated to training. - Timbó portal access has been provided to staff for professional publications. - Recruitment and promotion are dictated by the public service legal framework; entry-level examinations and merit-based promotion apply. - There are "no explicit activities or mechanisms that promote a culture of professionalism" (e.g., accreditations, peer-reviewed work, methodological papers, conferences) and the infrastructure/culture is not geared to promote research or analysis activities. - 1.1.2 Choice of sources/techniques and dissemination: - Selection of price sample and weights for the IPPN follow internationally recognized sampling techniques. - Item selection: cut-off sample where most important firms (they must account for "more than two percent of the market") are chosen and asked for a number of price observations. - Weights are drawn from the supply and use table of the national accounts, a statistically and internationally recognized method. - Decisions on dissemination, timing, and media for the IPPN are "strictly based on statistical considerations"; no other factors affect dissemination strategy. - 1.1.3 Right to comment on misuse: - NIS tracks and monitors media coverage of its statistics but "will typically not initiate a reply or provide other feedback such as corrections" for CPI and IPPN when data are misinterpreted or misused. *Italic: Content based solely on _cr1442 - 0.2 Resources (source PDF).* ### 1.2 Transparency ### 1.2 Transparency ### 1.2.1 The terms and conditions under which statistics are collected, processed, and disseminated are available to the public - Agency: National Institute of Statistics (NIS) - Findings: - The full text of Law 16 616, the survey methodology, and the release calendar of all indices, as well as a contact telephone number and e-mail address, are available on the NIS website (http://www.ine.gub.uy). - When accessing electronic surveys, the user is presented with the main articles of the Law referring to statistical secrecy and the requirement to comply with it, as well as to the reporting requirement and the penalties applied in case of misreporting. This information is also included in the surveys sent to enterprises by e-mail. - Law 16 616 requires the provision of information on the criteria and methodologies adopted. Quoted text: “Article 22 – All entities, whether public or private, have the right to receive the data produced by the National Statistics System, as well as information on classifications, criteria, definitions and methodology adopted in producing such data. (Transparency Principle, Article 3).” - In public meetings and speeches, the agency actively promotes and informs users about the conditions and terms under which it operates. - The NIS includes its web address on all its releases and publications where users can find more information about the organization and its products. ### 1.2.2 Internal governmental access to statistics prior to their release is publicly identified - Agency: National Institute of Statistics (NIS) - Findings: - Data are disseminated to the public as well as to government and quasi-government (e.g., BCU) authorities on the same day. - Some series are sent earlier to certain authorities, but the public is not made aware of this pre-release practice; it is not advertised on the NIS website or in any of its documentation. - The pre-release practice is mentioned in passing on the IMF website under the Special Data Dissemination System (SDDS) protocol. ### 1.2.3 Products of statistical agencies/units are clearly identified as such - Agency: National Institute of Statistics (NIS) - Findings: - Data are disseminated through the NIS website and are clearly associated with the relevant survey; the NIS is responsible for all information contained therein as well as for its production. - Reports prepared by the NIS are identified by a logo placed on the title page, and the names of the authors and staff responsible are credited in the case of methodological reports. ### 1.2.4 Advance notice is given of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques - Agency: National Institute of Statistics (NIS) - Findings: - Users are informed of any changes to the methodology before the data incorporating these changes are released to the public. - When notifying users in advance is not practical, an attempt is made to shorten the lag between the publication date of the data and the release of information related to the change in methodology. - Typically, most users are informed of methodological changes at the time of the first release of the data using the new methodology. - Under certain exceptional circumstances, some users are informed of the change prior to the release, but this is not normal practice except in the case of the CBU, who is typically informed early of any methodological changes. - Recommendation: - Announce in advance any planned changes in concepts and methodology. With major changes, users should be invited to provide feedback before they are implemented. *IMF staff report excerpt.* ### introduction of a new specific product since the quality change entails a change in the specific ### _cr1442 - introduction of a new specific product since the quality change entails a change in the specific ### Treatment of new specific products and quality changes - When a quality change entails a change in the specific product, compilers apply a factor to the preceding month’s prices for the new specific product so it can reflect the change in the quality adjusted (pure) price between the old and the new specific product. - If the change in price is considered accounted for by the change in quality, compilers apply an adjustment factor equal to one to the preceding month’s price for the specific substitute. - When new firms are added to the IPPN sample, sampled prices from the introduction month are compared to its prices from the previous month. ### Index formulas, aggregation, and weighting - The index for the commodity for period t against the base period is calculated as the index for the line through the period t-1 multiplied by the geometric mean of the price relatives reported on the line in question. - Aggregation to higher levels is based on a Laspeyres-type calculation formula; weights are price-updated from their reference period to the link month. Given that the weights are price-updated in this manner, the IPPN can more precisely be defined as a Lowe index. - At the microindex level: - The estimator of price change is based on the short-term (month-to-month) relative approach (short-term links). - The geometric mean formula is used to aggregate unweighted individual price relatives within the commodity group. - The method used for introducing the new weights is based on internationally accepted techniques found in the PPI Manual. - The reference period for the weights was updated in March 2010 taking values for 2005. There is no planned future update at the present time. - The weights are based on 1993 SNA concepts and use gross value added estimates for the divisions. ### Validation, assessment of intermediate data, and recommended practice - Intermediate results are validated against other information where applicable, but: - The IPPN data are rarely compared with external sources for validation; this practice is not integral to the validation and production process, largely due to a shortage of resources. - The IPPN is often the first to disseminate; as a result, there are no other reliable sources available for contemporaneous comparisons. - Recommendation: - Consider delaying the release of the PPI until one or two weeks after the reference month to provide more time to analyze the results and the data sources; this is not currently done given the limited resources. - Statistical discrepancies: - Unusual changes from certain sectors or particular reporters are rarely investigated. - The NIS typically does not release comments to the public about causes of atypical movements. - Discrepancies from inconsistent imputation for missing data and aggregation inconsistencies are seldom assessed; missing data is not a major concern and the same imputation method is almost always applied. ### Revision studies and revision policy - No analysis is conducted relating to the update of weights to determine the magnitude of the substitution effect on the PPI. - No studies are conducted on long-term trends in revision patterns to identify systematic bias. - No studies are conducted to investigate and explain other sources of errors or bias in PPI. - The IPPN follows a nonrevision policy because it is used as an escalator in a number of binding legal contracts; the contracts are written in a way that it is impractical for the IPPN to be revisable. - Revision practice and exceptions: - The IPPN is never revised as a matter of policy; no provisional estimates are released. - One exception: in 2001 an error persisted for four months; the index was revised back four months in that case. - The NIS continues to produce, in parallel with the new base, the IPPN using the old base dating back to 2001; this series is not advertised but is available on request. - The latest IPPN estimates are qualified with an *, meaning that these data are preliminary for one month after their release. - Weight updates are not measured, assessed, or explained in statutory publications or the public database. The monthly index is never revised; therefore no public analyses of revisions are carried out. ### Serviceability: periodicity, timeliness, and consistency - Periodicity and timeliness: - The PPI is compiled monthly. - Prices are collected on (and related to) the tenth (or thereabouts) of every month but are representative of the entire month. - The IPPN is disseminated two days before the end of the reference month. Data are received on the tenth of the month and processed in the week (or so) that follows. - Internal consistency: - The series are internally consistent; the General IPPN can be computed as a weighted average of various aggregation levels (industry, class) with the same result. - Consistent time series data for the IPPN are available for a period of at least five years and are consistent over this period for 12-month comparisons. - Past estimates are never revised or reconstructed even when new weights are introduced. - No methodological notes are produced that identify and explain main breaks and discontinuities in time series or adjustments made to maintain consistency when they occur. - The analytical note in the monthly release covers only month-over-month and 12-month changes and does not analyze trend changes or short-term behavior. - External consistency: - While conceptually and methodologically consistent with other data sources, qualified users (particularly the CBU) have expressed doubts about the validity of certain PPI estimates; these concerns have been transmitted to the NIS. ### Accessibility, dissemination, and user support - Presentation and dissemination: - IPPN data are published with supplementary tables and charts; the monthly release includes section and division level monthly index, month-over-month change, 12-month change, accumulated change for the year, and contributions to total change of the four sections. - No seasonally-adjusted IPPN series are produced or published. - The IPPN statistics are disseminated in a straightforward table with a brief text; more comprehensive statistics are available from the NIS website. - A release schedule is preannounced and data are released according to the schedule. - Statistics are made available to most users simultaneously; exception: the CBU has access about two hours prior to official release. - The press is not briefed in advance. - Special tabulations and statistics not routinely disseminated are available upon request, subject to statistical secrecy. - Metadata and documentation: - The methodology is published on the website; the website includes the latest methodological document: IPPN Base marzo de 2010=100. - This documentation includes concepts, definitions, classifications, data sources, compilation methods, statistical techniques, and other methodological aspects. - The NIS does not document deviations that may occur from internationally accepted standards. - The SDDS metadata are sent to the central bank as changes occur and then forwarded to the IMF. - The NIS does not provide general-use informational materials such as brochures or a FAQ page about the IPPN and does not typically produce specialized-use information (background papers, working documents) for the IPPN. - Assistance to users: - Contact points are listed in each questionnaire and on the NIS website home page. - Material for educational purposes for schools is available; no special information is available for researchers. - There is no monitoring of response time for user requests and no explicit policy or guideline for response time. - The NIS publishes an annual catalogue of publications and statistics; publications are available online and all information is available without charge. ### Key quality observations from the Data Quality Assessment Framework (2012) and institutional issues - Resource and institutional constraints: - Given more resources, the PPI basket could be updated more frequently and under a more structured schedule; more analysis could be conducted to ensure proper validation. - There is no formal process to consult users or inform them about specific data aspects (detail, periodicity, timeliness) via client surveys, newsletters, or seminars. - No tools are in place to assess how the NIS or the PPI have achieved quality goals; gaps and delays in full implementation exist due to resource constraints. - No formal and continuous training program or strategy is in place; no budget is set aside for training; staff mainly gain knowledge on the job; little culture of research, accreditations, or methodological dissemination. - Under exceptional circumstances some users are informed of methodological changes prior to release, but this is not normal practice except perhaps for the CBU. - Methodological scope limits: - Output estimates of the IPPN are only broken down in the commodity dimension; the NIS does not produce PPIs by industry. - The IPPN does not cover output prices for utilities, construction, business services, or other services; no immediate or firm plans to expand coverage given resource limitations. - Production destined for export is not included; production in free zones is not included. - Accuracy and quality assurance: - No estimates for sampling and nonsampling errors are offered to users for weight estimates or price data. - None of the IPPN surveys (prices or weights) are audited to verify survey data accuracy. - Accuracy of administrative data received from other agencies is not routinely monitored or assessed. - No routine analysis is done to ensure IPPN results are consistent with other data sources; temporal consistency is monitored for quality assurance. - The organization has a quality management unit, but the IPPN has seldom used this resource. - No periodic reviews are undertaken to identify steps necessary to maintain quality requirements. *Source: _cr1442 - introduction of a new specific product since the quality change entails a change in the specific (IMF staff report).* ### 3.3 Statistical techniques ### 3.3 Statistical techniques ### Assessment of statistical techniques and validation - "Unusual changes either from certain sectors or from particular reporters are rarely if ever investigated." - "If and when such cases do occur, the NIS will not typically release comments to the public about the causes or source of the atypical movement." - Under the Data Quality Assessment Framework summary for Producer Price Index (PPI) (Compiling Agency: National Institute of Statistics—NIS), element-level practices include NA, O, LO, LNO, NO symbols (key to symbols provided). ### Assessment and validation of intermediate data and statistical outputs (3.4) - Indicator expectations from the framework: - "Intermediate results are validated against other information, where applicable." - "Statistical discrepancies in intermediate data are assessed and investigated." - "Statistical discrepancies and other potential indicators or problems in statistical outputs are investigated." - Observed practice: atypical movements are rarely investigated and are not typically explained publicly by the NIS. ### Revision studies (3.5) - "There is no analysis relating to the update of weights to determine the effects of the magnitude of the substitution effect on the PPI." - "No studies are conducted on the long-term trends in the revision patterns to identify if some of the revisions may reveal any systematic bias in the revisions." - "No studies are conducted to investigate and explain other sources of errors or bias in PPI." - Framework indicator: "Studies and analyses of revisions and/or updates are carried out and used internally to inform statistical processes (see also 4.3.3)." — this is not met in practice for the PPI. ### Serviceability: periodicity, consistency, revision policy and practice (Section 4) - Periodicity and timeliness: marked as assessed (4.1 Periodicity and timeliness — X). - Consistency: marked as assessed (4.2 Consistency — X). - Revision policy and practice (4.3): - "The weights of the IPPN are updated infrequently." - "There is no pre-determined schedule for the weight updating cycle since there is no pre-approved budget or budgetary process for updating the weights." - "When the weights are updated, the NIS does not normally make it a practice to provide users with advance notice of the change." - Framework indicators relevant to practice: - "Revisions and/or updates follow a regular and transparent schedule." - "Preliminary and/or revised/updated data are clearly identified." - "Studies and analyses of revisions are made public (see also 3.5.1)." ### Accessibility and metadata (Section 5) - Data accessibility and metadata accessibility marked as assessed (5.1 Data accessibility — X; 5.2 Metadata accessibility — X). - Observed shortcomings: - "The NIS does not document deviations in PPI methodology that may occur from internationally accepted standards." - "The NIS does not provide general use information such as brochures or a Frequently Asked Questions page about the IPPN." - "The NIS does not typically produce specialized use information (e.g., background papers, working documents) for the IPPN." - Assistance to users (5.3) marked as assessed (X) but specific gaps in practice are noted above. ### SDDS summary (Appendix I) - SDDS prescribes practices under identified dimensions: - Data dimension (coverage, periodicity, and timeliness): "the dissemination of 18 data categories, including component detail, covering the four main sectors (real, fiscal, financial, and external) of the economy, with prescribed periodicity and timeliness." - Access dimension: - "the dissemination of advance release calendars providing at least a one-quarter advance notice of approximate release dates, and at least one-week advance notice of the precise release dates; and" - "the simultaneous release of data to all users." - Integrity dimension includes dissemination of terms and conditions, identification of internal government access to data before release, identification of ministerial commentary on statistical release, and provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology. - Quality dimension: dissemination of documentation on statistical methodology and sources, and dissemination of component detail/additional data series to allow cross-checks. - SDDS subscriber requirements: - "post descriptions of their data dissemination practices (metadata) on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB). Summary methodologies ... are also disseminated on the DSBB;" - "maintain an Internet website, referred to as the National Summary Data Page (NSDP), which contains the actual data described in the metadata and to which the DSBB is electronically linked." - Monitoring: "The IMF staff is monitoring observance of the standard through NSDPs maintained on the Internet. Monitoring is limited to the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of the data and to the dissemination of advance release calendars." ### Data Quality Assessment Framework — Generic Framework (Appendix II): key methodological elements - Prerequisites of quality: - Legal and institutional environment: responsibilities, data sharing, confidentiality, and statistical reporting mandates. - Resources: "Staff, facilities, computing resources, and financing are commensurate with statistical programs." - Relevance: "The relevance and practical utility of existing statistics in meeting users’ needs are monitored." - Other quality management: processes to focus on quality and monitor quality during planning and implementation. - Assurances of integrity: - Institutional integrity: impartial production, data-source decisions informed by statistical considerations, right to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse. - Transparency: availability of terms and conditions, identification of internal governmental access prior to release, identification of statistical products, advance notice of major changes. - Ethical standards: guidelines for staff behavior. - Methodological soundness: - Concepts and definitions, scope, classification/sectorization, basis for recording (market prices, accrual recording, grossing/netting procedures). - Accuracy and reliability: - Source data adequacy, assessment of source data, statistical techniques (compilation, adjustments, transformations), assessment and validation of intermediate data and outputs, and revision studies. - Serviceability: - Periodicity and timeliness (dissemination standards), consistency within dataset and across datasets, revision policy and practice. - Accessibility: - Data accessibility (presentation, dissemination media, preannounced schedule, simultaneous release), metadata accessibility (documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, differences from international standards), assistance to users (contact points, publications, and services). ### Users’ Survey summary (Appendix III) - Survey design and respondents: - "To enrich the basis for the assessment, the mission elicited the views of selected users of macroeconomic statistics. With the assistance of the Central Bank of Uruguay, a users’ survey was conducted (with 14 respondents), and meetings were held with selected users." - Main user findings: - "Most users were satisfied with the methodological soundness, accessibility, and frequency of national accounts and price statistics." - "They mentioned that the level of detail of the consumer price index was very good." - Areas for improvement identified by users: - GDP data by economic activity are "too aggregated, in particular, on domestic trade and services." - "Fixed capital formation by economic activity is not compiled." - "A monthly index of economic activity is not disseminated." - "Quarterly seasonally-adjusted GDP does not include the calendar effect." - "The quality and breakdown of prices of citric fruits and other fruits, exports of services, foreign direct investment, and exports and imports of the free zone need improvement." - Timeliness concerns: "series on national accounts, price indices for external trade and terms of trade were not timely, and the information on public corporations was scarce and not timely." - "They also found somewhat difficult the access to data and metadata on the new version of the Central Bank of Uruguay website." - Additional user requests: "more detail on national accounts and the producer price index and in longer time series on national accounts, in explanations on significant data revisions and important price changes, and emphasized the need for data on regional GDP and on income generation and distribution." *URUGUAY — INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND* --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/_cr1442.pdf_