Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)
An assessment on the quality of Thailand’s Macroeconomic statistics was conducted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission team during 3 – 17 October 2005. The assessment was based on the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF), July 2003, covering 4 categories of economic data; namely, National Accounts Statistics (compiled by National Economic and Social Development Board), Government Finance Statistics (compiled by Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance), Monetary Statistics and Balance of Payments Statistics (compiled by the Bank of Thailand). The assessment of current practices in accordance with IMF’s data quality assessment framework focuses on 2 major criteria as follows:
1. Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) : The Bank of Thailand subscribed to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard on August 9, 1996 and started posting the metadata on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) on September 19, 1996. Thailand fulfilled all the requirements prescribed by the SDDS in 1998, meeting the specifications for coverage, periodicity, timeliness and the dissemination of advance release calendars.
2. The assessment on data quality focuses on the evaluation associated with data compilation and dissemination, using the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF), July 2003 as benchmark. The assessment focuses on 6 dimensions as follows:
(1) Prerequisite of Quality - covering elements and indicators that have an overarching role as prerequisites, or institutional preconditions, for quality of statistics. These prerequisites cover elements of legal and institutional environment, resources available for statistical work, and quality awareness informing statistical work.
(2) Assurance of Integrity - captures the notion that statistical systems should be based on adherence to the principle of objectivity in the collection, compilation, and dissemination of statistics. The dimension encompasses institutional arrangements that ensure professionalism in statistical policies and practices, transparency, and ethical standards.
(3) Methodological Soundness - covers the idea that the methodological basis for the production of statistics should be sound and can be attained by following internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices.
(4) Accuracy and reliability - refers to the adequacy of source data to compile statistics, sound statistical techniques, and that source data, intermediate data, and statistical outputs are regularly assessed and validated, inclusive of revision studies.
(5) Serviceability - relates to the need that statistics cover relevant information on the subject field, that they are disseminated in a timely fashion, with an appropriate periodicity, datasets are consistent internally and with other major datasets, and follow a regular revision policy.
(6) Accessibility - relates to the need to ensure that data and metadata are presented in a clear and understandable manner on an easily available and impartial basis, that metadata are up-to-date and pertinent, and that a prompt and knowledgeable support service is available.
The overall assessment of data quality based on the DQAF July 2003 received desirable results (see attached summary table), which is indicative of a well-developed and managed macroeconomic statistical system. The government also recognizes the importance of good statistics for effective decision-making in all sectors of the economy. Moreover, it is well accepted at all levels of statistical-producing agencies that quality builds trust, which is the cornerstone of statistical work. The professionalism of staff and the pride they take in their work is notable. On the aspect of data dissemination, the public has ready access to data and metadata, as well as prompt and knowledgeable support services.
As statistical agencies are at various stages of implementing international best practices, the assessment will help outline the weaknesses and strengths in the overall statistical system and will accordingly help to accelerate the improvement and development process.