Nowcasting (NWC)

Source details

Target Audience: Junior and middle-level officials from ministries of finance, central banks, and other interested public institutions.
Qualifications: Participants are expected to have an advanced degree in economics or equivalent experience, a basic understanding of time-series econometrics and be comfortable using EViews (econometric software package).

The course provides participants with cutting-edge nowcasting tools that familiarize them with the concepts and methods to incorporate high-frequency economic indicators into the forecasting process, while integrating this training into technical assistance on data compilation and dissemination.
Each topic is complemented by hands-on workshops and assignments designed to illuminate the steps required to formulate a nowcasting model and generate a nowcast.

Understand and be proficient in the techniques required to manage time-series data in EViews, estimate an OLS regression, and calculate its associated forecasts in EViews.
Formulate nowcasting models using several approaches (such as Bridge, MIDAS, and U-MIDAS estimators, etc.) and appropriate high-frequency indicators.
Generate nowcasts from various models and evaluate their accuracy using several forecasting performance indicators.
Apply the nowcasting tools to their own country data and interpret the nowcast appropriately in policymaking settings.