Regional : Strengthening Economic Statistics for Measuring Progress Toward Sustainable Development Goals

Project Name

Strengthening Economic Statistics for Measuring Progress Toward Sustainable Development Goals

Project Number

54260-001

Country / Economy

• Regional
• Cook Islands
• Samoa
• Solomon Islands

Project Status

Active

Project Type / Modality of Assistance

• Technical Assistance

Source of Funding / Amount

TA 6565-REG: Strengthening Economic Statistics for Measuring Progress Towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Source	Amount
Technical Assistance Special Fund	US$ 750,000.00

Operational Priorities

• OP2: Accelerating progress in gender equality
• OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability
• OP6: Strengthening governance and institutional capacity
• OP7: Fostering regional cooperation and integration

Sector / Subsector

• Industry and trade / Industry and trade sector development

• Information and communication technology / ICT strategy and policy, and capacity development

• Public sector management / Economic affairs management

Gender

Some gender elements

Description

This knowledge and support technical assistance (KSTA) has been conceptualized by the Statistics and Data Innovation Unit (EROD-SDI) of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD) to enhance the capacity of the national statistical systems (NSS) of select developing member countries (DMCs) in Asia and the Pacific to produce high quality statistical information to illuminate critical economic phenomena and to facilitate evidence based policymaking using multi-sourced data, cutting-edge methods and best practices. The KSTA is in line with the framework of Strategy 2030 of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), wherein both DMCs and the ADB have pledged support to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the related Financing for Development Agenda. The proposed KSTA will capacitate the NSSs of the participating DMCs to produce relevant, accurate and timely economic statistical indicators that are imperative to measure the progress towards the SDGs, particularly Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; and Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

The proposed KSTA which is part of the approved workplan of ERCD, supports Strategy 2030's operational plan (OP6) strengthen governance, through enhancing the capacity of the DMCs to produce economic information needed for rigorous evidence-based policy making and program monitoring. Further, the statistics to be produced in the participating DMCs will enable the respective governments and the ADB to track the progress of the country and sector specific gainful participation in global and regional value chains (OP7: Fostering Regional Cooperation and Integration). Currently, due to similar statistical capacity building initiatives undertaken so far by EROD-SDI, ERCD produces global and regional value chain participation indices and analyses, including regional spillover analysis, for more than 20 regional member countries. As a result of this proposed KSTA the number of DMCs for which comprehensive value chain participation information and advanced measures of regional cooperation and integration (RCI) are available is expected to increase by at least 10, including many in the Pacific.

The proposed KSTA will also enable the ADB to expand its economic databases by the inclusion of critical statistics relevant to the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the region, including fragile and conflict-affected situations and small island developing states. These databases are currently being employed by ERCD to provide economic impact analysis for the purposes of COVID-19 Active Response Expenditure Support (CARES) program. Due to ERCD's past and ongoing statistical capacity building work in Thailand and other countries in ASEAN, the department was able to readily compile the necessary data and provide the analysis required for the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Option (CPRO) . ERCD is currently preparing similar analysis for many DMCs. The proposed KSTA will enhance the ADB's capacity to produce such advanced analysis for more DMCs, including many in the Pacific.

Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

In a highly globalized and increasingly digitalized world, relevant, accurate, timely, cross-cutting, and readily accessible and usable statistical information based on both conventional as well as innovative data are critical to discern and analyze the local and global economic issues confounding the DMCs, and to monitor their progress towards the objectives of the 2030 Development Agenda. The use of modern computing technologies, cutting-edge methods and innovative data in statistics can significantly improve the quality, accessibility, and usability of critical information needed to study current and emerging phenomena, formulate policy and track the progress towards SDGs, which the ADB recommends using to guide the recovery from COVID-19.

While the NSSs in the target DMCs , based on partial and incomplete information, produce a number of principal economic indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP growth rate, and even compile some data relevant to the SDGs, they have not been able to develop much of the standard statistical framework for national economic information known as the System of National Accounts (SNA) which are critical not only for the most accurate estimation of economic indicators such as GDP and GDP growth rate, but also for any in-depth study of the economy. Further, statistics in these DMCs continue to be compiled using very limited, and even outdated, data sources adversely affecting their quality defined by their relevance, accuracy, and timeliness. Many internationally mandated recommendations on statistical standards, definitions, concepts, and frameworks are yet to be implemented by the NSSs. Further, traditional data release and dissemination methods severely limit the accessibility and usability of data. Such shortcomings seriously hamper the NSSs' ability to provide critical and timely data needed to illuminate important economic issues. This issue was brought to the forefront when the ADB tried to produce COVID-19 related sectoral, local, regional, and global economic impact analyses, which were readily compiled for the DMCs with relatively high quality and more complete SNA.

This proposed KSTA will focus on utilizing all available and accessible survey, administrative and innovative data and employing advanced statistical and econometric methods to produce the principal components of the SNA for the participating DMCs as per international standards. The NSSs will also be adequately capacitated to use cutting-edge technical and technological approaches to improve the relevance, accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, and costs associated with producing key economic and SDG relevant statistics based on SNA. Given this overarching objective, statistical capacity building will be provided across four specific domains: (i) enhancement of national economic accounts; (ii) establishment of statistical business registers; (iii) use of innovative data on economic flows for statistical compilation; and (iv) sharing and dissemination of knowledge on economic statistics.

Impact

The advancement of NSSs through statistical capacity building initiatives to effectively measure achievement of SDGs and ADB's Strategy 2030, as well as to swiftly develop new datasets needed to respond to the ever-evolving globalized economic environment

Project Outcome

Description of Outcome

NSSs produce highly relevant, accurate, timely and detailed statistics on selected economic domains such as industry, public sector, trade, consumption, investment and tourism with a high level of contribution from female professionals in the participating DMCs

Progress Toward Outcome

Implementation Progress

Description of Project Outputs

National Economic Accounts

Detailed supply-use tables (SUTs) and input-output tables (IOTs) of the system of national accounts (SNA) produced annually by the DMCs

Statistical Business Registers

Functional Statistical Business Registers (SBR) established in the DMCs

Data innovation

Big Data utilized for statistical compilation by the DMCs

Knowledge sharing and dissemination

Knowledge sharing and dissemination by DMCs supported

Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues)

Geographical Location

Cook Islands - Nation-wide; Samoa - Nation-wide; Solomon Islands - Nation-wide

Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects

Environmental Aspects

Involuntary Resettlement

Indigenous Peoples

Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation

During Project Design

During Project Implementation

Contact

Responsible ADB Officer

Mariasingham, Mahinthan Joseph

Responsible ADB Department

Economic Research and Development Impact Department

Responsible ADB Division

Data Division (ERDD)

Executing Agencies

Asian Development Bank

Timetable

Concept Clearance

07 Aug 2020

Fact Finding

-

MRM

-

Approval

15 Sep 2020

Last Review Mission

-

Last PDS Update

21 Sep 2020

Funding

TA 6565-REG