The Status of GDP Compilation Practices in 189 Economies and the Relevance for Policy Analysis
IMF Working Papers, March 2, 2018
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Francien Berry, Massimiliano Iommi, Michael Stanger, Louis Venter
- Published: March 2, 2018
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484344217.001
Methodology and scope
- Assessed GDP compilation in 189 economies against six key criteria describing national accounts compilation practices.
- Six criteria: whether the benchmark year is up to date; availability and timeliness of annual GDP; availability and timeliness of quarterly GDP; whether GDP by production and expenditure approaches are compiled independently to allow for comparisons; whether estimates by the income approach are available; vintage of the System of National Accounts (SNA) applied.
- Information sources:
- Publicly available information including the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB).
- For 108 developing economies, information provided by the IMF’s real sector advisors stationed in the Fund’s 10 Regional Technical Assistance Centers (RTACs).
- Data were compared with the UNSD and World Bank databases.
Key findings
- 50 percent of economies have acceptable benchmark years.
- 72 percent report timely annual GDP data.
- 55 percent of economies report timely data for quarterly GDP.
- Coverage and data vintage vary across regions and income groups (regional keywords in source: Asia and Pacific, Caribbean, Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa).
Analysis and relevance for policy analysis
- The six-criterion assessment highlights gaps in national accounts compilation that affect the reliability and comparability of GDP statistics used for policy analysis.
- Timeliness and the availability of multiple approaches (production, expenditure, and income) are central to robust cross-approach comparisons and policy-relevant indicators.
- The vintage of the SNA applied influences the conceptual and classification alignment of GDP statistics and thus affects international comparability.
Implications and priorities for capacity development
- Prioritize updating benchmark years to improve the representativeness of GDP levels and structures (only 50 percent currently acceptable).
- Strengthen timely reporting of annual and quarterly GDP, with particular attention to quarterly GDP where only 55 percent of economies report timely data.
- Support compilation of GDP by multiple approaches (production, expenditure, income) to enable independent comparison and validation of GDP estimates.
- Target technical assistance to developing economies using the network of IMF real sector advisors and RTACs, leveraging existing DSBB, UNSD, and World Bank data comparisons.
Source: The Status of GDP Compilation Practices in 189 Economies and the Relevance for Policy Analysis (IMF Working Paper, March 2, 2018).