Annex F Background Data and Survey Results for the Statistics Assistance
 
A.	Background Information on the Statistics TAs

Table F.2: Focus of PFTAC Statistics Assistance FY2006 to FY2008	
	Monetary Survey	BOP	National Accounts	Prices	GFS	Strength of Statistical Agency	PFTAC Engagement	
Cook Islands	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Relatively good data. Experienced Statistician and stable team.  	Consistent engagement.	
Fiji	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Relatively good statistics. Significant staff turnover and vacancies.  	Consistent engagement.	
Kiribati		Yes	Yes			Limited statistics capacity. Issues relate to coverage, timeliness, staff turnover, staff qualifications and limited access to the Internet.	Limited engagement after 2005	
Marshall Islands		Yes	Yes			Limited statistics available. Statistics are not a government priority. Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office headed by capable manager with 6 staff (economic statistician on educational leave). Strengthening required in all areas. Issues include staff  numbers and quality and  limited budget.	Limited engagement after 2005. ADB, Australia, SPC and USA assistance. 	
Micronesia, Federate States of			Yes			Extensive ADB TA in NA. Reliant on consultants. One trained counterpart for NAs but diverted to other tasks. Local staff are largely high school leavers. Need 3 staff in place (NA; BOP; GFS) before PFTAC provides TA.	Limited engagement after 2005	
Nauru						Small office (3 people). Severe difficulties with source data. Delayed payment of staff salaries. 	Limited engagement after 2005. Revised NA estimates prepared in conjunction with ADB rejected by the government.	
Niue						Limited statistics capacity.  One person in the statistics department. Issues related to coverage and timeliness. 	Limited engagement after 2005 because of New Zealand support.	
Palau			Yes			Statistics law drafted but not passed. Statistics need strengthening. Some well qualified staff but vacancies and loss of staff through immigration limit capacity. Staff diverted to other assignments. 	Limited engagement after 2005. Support from UNDP, US, New Zealand and SPC.	
Papua New Guinea		Yes				Quality of NA declined because of staffing and funding constraints. Need improved quality of NA, CPI and GFS. However, due to institutional weaknesses in the National Statistics Office no improvements have been made in statistics in several years. The central Bank is institutionally stronger and improvements are underway for BOP and MFS. MFS published in 2006 in IFS. 

	PFTAC supported institutional development plan in 2007 and BOP. STA supported MFS. PFTAC participated in STA mission in 2006 to review statistics. ADB has offered significant TA.	
Samoa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Statistics relatively good quality. GFS 1986 basis. Significant progress toward BPM5. One of the stronger statistical agencies in the region. Well qualified staff, although additional staff would help to make further improvements.	PFTAC needs assessment in 2006. Consistent engagement in all areas (e.g. MFS; BOP; NA; Price; GFS).  Review by AUSAID to of priorities followed by 5 year assistance program. ADB support for GFS.	
Solomon Islands		Yes	Yes	Yes		Statistics Office was not functioning for a number of years due to turmoil in country. In 2004 the Statistical Office began to function. Covers CPI, household survey, business surveys and GFS. Limited numbers of qualified staff and budget. Some staff involved in national accounts are diverted to other tasks. Central Bank is institutionally stronger and produces MFS, BOP and NA.	PFTAC involvement increased for NA; price (import prices) and BOP. STA mission for MFS. AUSAID and NZAID provide support. PFTAC helped draft their terms of reference and provided back stopping services.	
Tokelau						The statistician is a part time position. Limited statistical capacity.	No PFTAC activity. Support provided by NZAID.  	
Tonga		Yes	Yes	Yes		Staff turnover, loss of qualified staff and limited financial resources of the National Statistics Office slow the implementation of recommendations. BOP compiler resigned. Inconsistencies in BOP statistics from Central Bank and National Statistics Office. Considerable scope to improve NA, BOP and GFS. 	PFTAC assistance for BOP, prices (import prices) and NA. Encouraged request a long term advisor from AUSAID or NZAID. SPC providing some NA assistance. 	
Tuvalu		Yes	Yes			Produces a narrow range of economic statistics. Issues with timely NA. Limited capacity to produce statistics. 	BOP and NA review undertaken by PFTAC in 2006 followed by limited NA support. Support from AUSAID, NZAID and SPC. 	
Vanuatu		Yes	Yes			One of the stronger statistical systems in the region. The National Statistics Office (NA; CPI), Reserve Bank of Vanuatu (MFS; BOP) and Ministry of Finance (GFS) all have capable, motivated staff. MFS published in IFS. Need to rebase CPI and GDP.  	Support from AUSAID NZAID and European Union. Periodic PFTAC engagement	
Source: PFTAC Country Strategy Notes. October 2008 supplemented by discussions with the PFTAC Statistics Advisor regarding the strength of the statistical agencies.  	

Table F.3:  Strength of Statistical Systems	

	Total Rank1	Statistical Practice
Rank1	National
Accounts
Base < 10
Years Old	Use BPM5	CPI Base
<10 Years
Old
	Central Government Accounts Consolidated	Status of GDDS	
Cook Islands	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Metadata drafted but not finalized. 	
Fiji	50	40	No	No	No	No	GDDS metadata published 	
Kiribati	30	20	No	No	No	No	GDDS metadata published but due for updating.	
Marshall Islands	26	10	No	No	No	No	Not participating in GDDS.	
Micronesia, Federate States of	32	10	Yes	No	No	No	Not participating in GDDS.	
Nauru	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Not participating in GDDS.	
Niue	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Not participating in GDDS.	
Palau	31	10	No	No	No	No	Signed up for GDDS. Metadata drafted but not finalized.  	
Papua New Guinea	39	50	No	Yes	No	No	Signed up for GDDS. Metadata not finalized. 	
Samoa	49	40	No	No	Yes	No	Joined GDDS but metadata not published.  	
Solomon Islands	49	20	No	No	No	No	Signed up for GDDS. Metadata drafted but not yet forwarded to IMF for review.  	
Tokelau	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Not participating in GDDS.	
Tonga	53	50	Yes	No	Yes	No	Metadata published in 2006. 	
Tuvalu	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Not participating in GDDS.	
Vanuatu	47	60	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Metadata published.  	
Average Score or Number of Yes	41	32	1 of 10	2 of 10	3 of 10	1 of 10	4	of 15	
Note:  A country level composite statistical capacity indicator is available that is based on an assessment of three dimensions of a statistical system: (i) statistical practice: (ii) data collection; and (iii) indicator availability. For the PFTAC Evaluation, statistical practice is the most relevant dimension as it covers macroeconomic statistics. That ratings are based on 10 variables, each with an equal weight, that are given a pass (score of 1) or fail (score of 0) rating: (i) national accounts base year (whether or not the base year is older than 10 years); (ii) balance of payments manual in use (whether BPM5 is used); (iii) external debt reporting status (whether actual or preliminary estimates are available); (iv) consumer price index base year (whether or not the base year older than 10 years); (v) industrial production index (produced and available from IMF); (vi) import and export price indexes (produced and available from IMF); (vii) government finance accounting (whether or not the); (viii) school enrolment reporting to UNESCO (at least three times in the last four years); (ix) vaccine reporting to World Health Organization (WHO) (nationally reported data on measles vaccine coverage consistent with WHO estimates); and (x) IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (whether or not the national statistics agency subscribes). 
Source:  World Bank Country Statistical Information Database. April 2009.	

Table F.4: Publication of Data in IMF’s International Financial Statistics for      PFTAC Member Countries 	
	IMF Member	Monetary Survey	Banking Survey	CPI	BOP	GFS	National Accounts	
Cook Islands	No							
Fiji	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes
(2006)	Yes1 (2006)	Yes (2005)	
Kiribati	Yes							
Marshall Islands	Yes							
Micronesia, Federate States of	Yes		Yes					
Nauru	No							
Niue	No							
Palau	Yes							
Papua New Guinea	
Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes (2005)	Yes1 (2005)	Yes (2004)	
Samoa	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes
(2006)		Yes1 (2004)	
Solomon Islands	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes1			Yes1 (2002)	
Tokelau	No							
Tonga	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes
(2006)		Yes1	
Tuvalu	No							
Vanuatu	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes			
								
CPI = Consumer Price Index; BOP = Balance of Payments; GFS = Government Finance Statistics
Date inserted if most recent data is prior to 2007
1 Means limited or significant missing data	
Source: IMF. International Financial Statistics, October 2008 and September 2005 editions.	

B.	Survey Results for Statistics Assistance