Dialogue through Statistical Commission
The 40th Session of the Statistical Commission took place in 2009 when the world economic outlook had drastically deteriorated and the global community of statisticians faced serious concerns and challenges. The agenda of the session showed that the Commission responded to key policy challenges. It addressed agriculture statistics, energy statistics and statistics for climate change. A milestone was reached with the adoption of the updated System of National Accounts.
- 40th Session of the Commission
- Welcome remarks by Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
High-level Forum on Globalization and Global Crisis: The Role of Official Statistics
The High-level Forum is an annual event that considers critical issues in official statistics and provides guidance in the advancement of the global statistical system. In 2009 the central theme focused on the global financial, food and economic crisis.
The Forum featured a high level panel composed of users and producers of statistics, who provided their views on how the global statistical system has evolved the role of the Statistical Commission and the new challenges that the Commission has to face to move the global system forward.
- Globalization and Global Crisis: The Role of Statistics
- Presentations on the Role of Official Statistics and the Global Financial Crisis:
- Rob Vos, Director, Development Policy and Analysis Division, DESA
- Justin Lin, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank
- Brian Pink, Official Statistics and the Global Financial Crisis
International Seminar on Timeliness, Methodology and Comparability of Rapid Estimates of Economic Trends
The International Seminar on Timeliness, Methodology and Comparability of Rapid Estimates of Economic Trends was co-organized by DESA’s Statistics Division, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and Statistics Canada. It was held in Ottawa, Canada from May 27-29 2009. The purpose of the international seminar was to address the current use of the various categories of rapid estimates in monetary, fiscal and financial policy making. Presentations and discussions by participants from around 30 countries and 12 international and regional organizations centered on exchanging experience and seeking answers on how these high frequency statistics can be instrumental in the analysis of the turning points of the financial crisis in support of swift and synchronized policy actions at the global and national level. The international statistical community has a particular role to play in the area of monitoring the development of the crisis. Analyst and policy makers urgently need timely and reliable high frequency statistics that are comparable between countries and regions.
Meeting on Official Statistics and the Impact of the Financial Crisis
The Meeting on Official Statistics and the Impact of the Financial Crisis took place on 22 February 2009 and focused on the implications of official statistics arising from the systemic aspects of the global financial crisis and economic downturn. It was an opportunity to explore how statisticians could accelerate the availability of official estimates from macroeconomic frameworks by setting priorities and coordinating international action.
The discussions lead to swift proposals and synchronized actions by the global statistical community towards better monitoring of the financial system and more timely and comparable data on the vulnerable sectors of the global economy.
High-level Forum on the Long-Term Development of 2008 System of National Accounts
The High-level Forum on the Long-Term Development of 2008 System of National Accounts provided an opportunity to discuss the implications of the current world financial crisis for the national accounts. The outcome confirmed that the macroeconomic accounts are at the heart of the economic statistical information system and they provide a sound basis for articulating economic developments of a globally interconnected nature.
