The IMF's Statistical Systems in Context of Revision of the United Nations' A System of National Accounts IMF's Statistical Systems in Context of ... United Nations' a System of National Accounts

632 Pages·1999·17.122 MB·English

by  Vicente Galbis

THEIMF'S
STATISTICAL
SYSTEMS
in Context of Revision
of the United Nations'
A System ofN ational Accounts
As of May 1,1991, while this book was in press, the IMF's Bureau
of Statistics became the Statistics Department of the Fund.
Consequently, all references to the Bureau of Statistics herein
should be understood to refer to the Statistics Department.
THEIMF'S
STATISTICAL
SYSTEMS
in Context of Revision
of the United Nations'
A System ofN ational Accounts
Statistics Department
Edited by
Vicente Galbis
International Monetary Fund
Washington, D.C. • 1991
© 1991 International Monetary Fund
Reprinted May 1995
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The IMP's statistical systems in context of revision of the United
Nations' A system of national accounts I Statistics Department;
edited by Vicente Galbis
p. em.
"A selection of papers presented at three expert group meetings
sponsored by the Fund in 1987-88" -Foreword.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-55775-159-5
1. National income-Accounting. I. Galbis, Vicente, 1942-
ll. International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
lll. International Monetary Fund.
HC79.15144 1991
339.3'2'015195-dc20 91-2489
CIP
Both this book's cover and its interior
were designed by the IMF Graphics Section.
The following symbols have been used throughout this book:
to indicate that data are not available;
to indicate that the figure is zero or less than half the final digit shown, or that
the item does not exist;
Between years or months (e.g., 1991-92 or January-June) to indicate
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months;
Between years (e.g., 1991/92) to indicate a crop or fiscal (financial) year.
"Billion" means a thousand million.
Details may not add to totals shown because of rounding.
The term "country," as used in this book, does not in all cases refer to a
territorial entity that is a state as understood by international law and practice;
the term also covers some territorial entities that are not states but for which
statistical data are maintained and provided internationally on a separate and
independent basis.
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Foreword
T HE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND has always attached consider
able importance to the development of appropriate meth
odologies in its work in balance of payments, government finance,
and monetary statistics. The Fund's contribution to the development
of international statistics also takes other forms, including a system of
statistical communications with member countries, technical assis
tance to member countries on statistical matters, cooperation in these
matters with other international organizations, and compilation of its
own statistical publications.
The role of the IMF within the international statistical community
has allowed the Fund to participate actively in the ongoing revision of
the United Nations' A System of National Accounts (SNA), last revised
in 1968. The work on revision of the SNA may be seen as part of the
Fund's commitment to achieve a greater degree of coordination in the
statistical field with other international agencies. The Fund has also
begun to revise the fourth edition of its Balance of Payments Manual,
issued in 1977, and to refine further its methodology for monetary
statistics, based on the draft of A Guide to Money and Banking Statistics.
A Manual on Government Finance Statistics was published by the Fund
in 1986. The Fund hopes that these efforts will not only lead to meth
odological improvements and a greater consistency in national statis
tics but will also promote harmonization of these statistical systems
among themselves and with the SNA.
This volume contains a selection of papers presented at three
expert group meetings sponsored by the Fund in 1987-88 for the
revision of the SNA. These meetings dealt with issues in the balance
of payments, government finance, and monetary statistics and were
part of a sequence of expert group meetings organized by the inter
ested international organizations to oversee the revision process. The
papers place the Fund's statistical methodologies in the context of
revision of the SNA and explain the contr;bution that the Fund has
made, and can make, to the process of harmonization.
Although the papers represent the views of individual contributors
v
vi FOREWORD
and not necessarily those of their respective institutions, I trust that
they will be of interest to those whose task it is to compile macro
economic statistics and to develop new ideas to cope with the chal
lenges of the interrelation, simplification, and evolution of these
statistics.
MICHEL CAMDESSUS
Managing Director
International Monetary Fund
Preface
A T ITS TWENTY-FIRST session in 1981 the Statistical Commission of
the United Nations discussed proposals for improvement of the
United Nations' A System of National Accounts (SNA), last published in
1968. Following this, an Expert Group Meeting on the Review and
Development of the SNA, held in New York in March 1982, recom
mended that a long-term review of the SNA be undertaken to pro
duce a revised SNA. To assist in this process, the Intersecretariat
Working Group on National Accounts-a group comprising represen
tatives of the UN, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), the European Community (EC), the World
Bank, the IMF and the five UN Regional Economic Commissions
was established. The main goals set for the revision of the SNA were
to simplify the 1968 SNA so that it will be more directly relevant to the
needs of member countries; to resolve methodological issues and
internal inconsistencies noted since publication of the 1968 SNA; and
to harmonize the SNA as much as possible with related statistical
systems, especially the Fund's systems and methodologies relating to
balance of payments, government finance, and monetary statistics.
The revision process has centered on a series of meetings of expert
groups composed of national experts and the members of the Inter
secretariat Working Group. In 1987 and 1988 the Fund sponsored
three of these expert group meetings. They dealt with external sector
transactions (March 23-April2, 1987), public sector accounts Oanuary
25-29, 1988), and financial flows and balances (September 6-15,
1988).
This volume contains a selection of the papers prepared for the
expert group meetings sponsored by the Fund. The structure of the
volume has three parts, corresponding to the issues discussed at each
of the three meetings. In all, 32 papers are presented, most of them
short. A brief introduction has been provided by the editor. Some of
the papers have been modified for publication, with certain material,
especially annexes and appendices, deleted to simplify and shorten
the presentation or to avoid unnecessary repetition. The papers have
vii
viii PREFACE
not been revi<:ed, however, to reflect discussion during the expert
group meetings. Thus, the contents of this volume should in no way
pre-empt or prejudice the views expressed by participants at those
meetings, the conclusions and recommendations of the meetings, or
the solutions that may eventually prevail in achieving harmony
between the revised SNA and the Fund's statistical methodologies.
Rather, I would hope that these papers are viewed as research mate
rial that is interesting for its analytical approaches to some long
standing issues, and to new methodological issues in the field of
economic statistics. The papers therefore represent solely the views of
the authors and not the official views of the Fund or of other
organizations.
Finally, I would like to thank the contributors to this volume not
only for preparing the papers but also for their cooperation with the
editor in the thankless task of streamlining the presentation by delet
ing some material, as noted above; this made it possible to publish
the papers in a single volume without reducing their substance. I
would also like to thank James McEuen of the Fund's External Rela
tions Department for painstakingly reviewing the draft papers and
for making many useful editorial suggestions at various stages of
production of this volume.
JoHN B. McLENAGHAN
Director
Statistics Department
International Monetary Fund