United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Activities in the STES area

1. United Nations Economic Commission for EuropeActivities in the STES area Artur Andrysiak Economic Statistics Section, UNECE artur.andrysiak@unece.org

2. Overview • Brief introduction of UNECE Statistical Division • UNECE International Comparability Project • UNECE Seasonal Adjustment Pilot Project • UNECE on-line Statistical Database

3. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe UNECE strives to foster sustainable economic growth among its 56 member countries. UNECE provides a forum for communication among States; brokers international legal instruments addressing trade, transport and the environment; and supplies statistics and economic and environmental analysis.

4. UNECE Statistical Division • Main activities • Technical assistance and training • International cooperation • Promotion of internationally accepted standards and best practices • Methodological work • Organizing meetings • Provision of secretariat to the Conference of European Statisticians • Data work

5. International comparability of short-term economic statistics • In 2006 and 2007 the ESS conducted a thorough investigation of available STES in CIS and SEE countries • 17 CIS and South-East European countries • Statistics published on the NSOs websites (in English) • Compilation and dissemination methods and practices • 5 key indicators: • Consumer Price Index • Producer Price Index • Index of Industrial Production • Retail Trade Turnover • Wages and Salaries • http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/ece/ces/bur/2008/14.e.pdf

7. Key Findings Lack of international comparability in the area of STES - main causes: • Lack of seasonally adjusted series • Unavailability of longer time series • Lack of fixed base indices and absolute values • Insufficient metadata • Poor dissemination practices • Poor compilation practices

8. Seasonal Adjustment Pilot Project Lack of SA is a key factor affecting international comparability • Objectives: • To produce and publish reliable and accurate seasonally adjusted time series for countries for which such series are not available and subsequently improve international comparability (short-term perspective). • To support building up of NSOs capacity in the area of SA (longer-term perspective). • Scope: • 16 CIS and South-East European countries • IIP

9. SAPP – Findings/Outcomes • Findings • 14 out of 16 SEECIS countries publish monthly total IIPs that are suitable for SA. • In 3 out of the 14 countries (Russia, Georgia and Serbia) the NSOs/CBs compile SA IIP. • For the remaining countries the SA series produced by ESS are suitable for publication. • For Russia and Georgia the series produced by ESS are very similar to those published by the countries themselves. • Outcomes • Publication of the SA series • Improved comparability of the SEECIS countries with the remaining countries in the UNECE region. • Improved cooperation with the NSOs in the area of SA

10. SAPP - Lessons learned • ESS can produce SA series for selected statistics on a regular basis for SEECIS countries who do not publish SA series. • Where feasible countries should be encouraged to undertake SA themselves. • There is a need of methodological and/or technical assistance to countries to support the implementation of SA methods and practices. • There is a strong demand for methodological material and practical guidelines in Russian

11. Example of SA IIP – Russian Federation

12. UNECE Statistical Database on-line • http://www.unece.org/stats/data.htm • Statistics: • Economic • Gender and Social • Transport • Statistics for 52 of 56 MC (remaining 4 being added) • Free access • Easy and fast to use • Constantly being improved

13. Questions? • THANK YOU