Ashgabat, 3 June 2019: The United National Development Programme (UNDP) and the State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan held a roundtable on improved practices of exhaustive estimation of Growth Domestic Product (GDP).

The aim of the round table is to familiarize the representatives of Statistics Committee, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Central Bank and other relevant ministries and agencies of Turkmenistan with international standards and best practices in defining and measurement of Non-Observed Economy (NOE) for exhaustive estimation of GDP.

“Complete coverage of economic production is a vital aspect of the quality of the national accounts. This exhaustiveness is hard to achieve because of the difficulties in accounting for certain types of productive activities. Measuring of non-observed economy is important in evaluating macroeconomic aggregates to comply with international accounting standards and ensure exhaustive estimates of GDP,” stated Ms. Silayeva, UNDP international expert.

During the roundtable, participants discussed non-observed activities which are missing from the basic data used to compile the national accounts. Representatives of the national agencies addressed the reasons for that including underground, illegal, informal, household production for own final use, and possible deficiencies in the basic data collection system.

Ms. Silayeva familiarized participants with the wide range of possible approaches to non-observed measurement such as production and expenditure approaches, groups of activities referred to non-observed economy, data collection mechanisms, implementation strategy etc. As a result of the roundtable, representatives of relevant ministries and agencies strengthened their understanding on measuring of non-observed economy and its role in exhaustive estimates of GDP.

During her visit, Ms. Silayeva also held a series of meetings with representatives of the Statistics Committee and provided expertise on measurement of NOE for exhaustive estimation of GDP, including development of methodology for NOE measurement in accordance with the 2008 SNA requirements as well as questionnaires, instructions, guidelines and other relevant materials.

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The visit of expert is organized with support of the “Experts on Demand” program funded by the government of the Russian Federation.