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p. 25 of 25 BACK | NEXT Foreword, Acronyms and Abbreviations, Definitions I. Developing Asia and the world II. Economic trends and prospects in developing Asia III. The challenge of higher oil prices Statistical appendix

Asian Development Outlook 2005 Update

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Statistical notes and tables

The statistical appendix presents three selected economic indicators: gross domestic product (GDP) growth (A1), inflation (A2), and current account balance as a percentage of GDP (A3) for 42 developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The DMCs are grouped into five subregions: Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

These tables contain historical data from 2002 to 2004 and forecasts for 2005 and 2006. Update forecasts are compared with forecasts provided in ADO 2005. For countries where Update forecasts are not available, projections are from ADO 2005.

Historical data are obtained from official sources, statistical publications, secondary publications, other working papers, and internal documents of ADB, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Bank. Data in the tables are reported either on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The DMCs that record most of their accounts on a calendar year basis (except government finance data, which are reported on a fiscal year basis) are: Cook Islands, Hong Kong, China; Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Samoa; Thailand; and Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Some countries record the majority of their accounts on a fiscal year basis (see figure), with some of their accounts recorded on a calendar year basis.

Regional and subregional averages for DMCs are provided for the three economic indicator tables. Data for Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Nauru are excluded in the computation of sub­regional averages due to measurement problems. Where a given year has missing data, regional and subregional averages are computed on the basis of the available information only.

Levels of gross national income (GNI) in current US$ using the World Bank Atlas method are used as annual weights to calculate the regional and subregional averages. The GNI data were obtained from the World Bank Group WDI Data Query (http://devdata.worldbank.org/data-query/). The same weights used in ADO 2005 are applied in the computation of regional and subregional averages. Data for 2003, as the most recent data available, are used as weights for 2004, 2005, and 2006. The GNI data, in current US$, for three of the DMCs are unavailable, namely Cook Islands; Taipei, China; and Tuvalu. For these economies, weights were estimated using GDP at current prices.

The following paragraphs examine the tables in closer detail.

Table A1: Growth Rate of GDP (% per year). This shows annual growth rates of GDP valued at constant market prices, factor costs, or basic prices. GDP at market prices is the aggregation of the value added of all resident producers at producers’ prices including taxes less subsidies on imports plus all nondeductible value-added or similar taxes. Factor cost measures differ from market price measures in that they exclude taxes on production and include subsidies. Basic price valuation is the factor cost plus some taxes on production, such as property and payroll taxes, and less some subsidies, such as labor-related subsidies but not product-related subsidies. Most DMCs use constant market price valuation. South Asian countries predominantly use constant factor costs, including Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, while Maldives’ GDP valuation is at basic prices. Among the Pacific countries, Fiji Islands, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu employ constant factor cost valuation. For Hong Kong, China, the computations of real GDP and sector growth rates are based on volume indexes; GDP sector growth rates for Solomon Islands are based on GDP production indexes.

Table A2: Inflation (% per year). Except for India, which reports the wholesale price index; Kiribati and Solomon Islands, which use the retail price index; and the Federated States of Micronesia, which uses the implicit GDP deflator, annual inflation rates presented are based on consumer price indexes. For most DMCs, the reported inflation rates represent period averages except for Bhutan and Cook Islands, which use end-of-period data. The data for Singapore is on a calendar year basis, yet the base year used for the computation of inflation rates is November 1997-October 1998. For Sri Lanka, inflation is calculated using the new Sri Lanka consumer price index, which measures all-island price movements and uses an updated basket of goods with 1995-1997 as the base period. The consumer price indexes of the following countries are for a given city or group of consumers only: Afghanistan is for Kabul, Cambodia is for Phnom Penh, Kiribati is for Tarawa, Palau is for Koror state, Marshall Islands is for Majuro, Solomon Islands is for Honiara, and Nepal is for urban consumers.

Table A3: Current Account Balance (% of GDP). The values on the current account balance, which is the sum of the balance of trade for merchandise, net trade in services and factor income, and net transfers, are divided by GDP at current prices in US$. In the case of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam, official transfers are excluded from the current account balance.

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