Economic Statistics
FOCG on Economic Statistics
Second Meeting of the Friends of the Chair Group on Economic Statistics
- New York, USA
- 2 - 4 December 2019
The 50th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission established a Friends of the Chair Group (FOCG) on Economic Statistics. The Commission requested that the Friends of the Chair Group convene meetings over the next year to discuss whether the current planned updates meet the needs of a future state of the system of economic statistics and whether gaps exist. The Commission also asked the Friends of the Chair Group to examine whether the current governance and infrastructure supporting the system of economic statistics is sufficient to meet the need for an increasingly responsive and comprehensive system of economic statistics. The Friends of the Chair Group has been asked to report back at the 51st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission.
This second meeting will be used to: evaluate the feedback received from various fora via the global user consultation of statistical groups; define the system of economic statistics; articulate any changes needed to the governance arrangements and statistical operations and infrastructure of the system; tasks and responsibilities for 2020 and agree on the content of the report to the 51st session of the United Nations Statistical Commission.
Monday, 2 December 2019: 10am - 6pm
10:00 - 10:15 am
1. Welcome (Moderator Anil Arora)
10:15am - 12:00 pm
2. Discussion with Economists (the ‘why’) (Moderator Tabo Symphorien)
This session is intended to continue the dialogue with the economics community as requested by UNSC. Helping ensure that FOCG discussions and activities remain focused on meeting policy needs and articulating why (the drivers) we are undertaking these initiatives.
Economic policy making for SDGs update on recent developments from UN Network of EconomistsRecent developments economic policy priorities from multilateral development bank
1:30pm - 3:30 pm
3. Discussion on Results of Consultation Activities (the ‘who’) (Moderator Stefan Schweinfest)
This session will present, for discussion, the results of the regional and working group consultation process. The desired outcome is ensuring we have heard from a broad range of stakeholders and can take their views into consideration in the following discussions.
Findings from consultation with economic statistics working groupsSummary of Consultations - Presentation Read
Findings from regional consultation seminarsGroup discussion on the results of the consultation process
4:00pm - 6:00 pm
4. The system of economic statistics (the ‘what’) (Moderator David Kalisch)
This session will describe the current system of economic statistics as well as articulate gaps that have been identified and what changes to the system may be required. Discussion of the system will include: domains (labour, trade, finance, etc.); attributes (timeliness, coverage etc.); and the statistical operations and infrastructure and an overarching conceptual umbrella framework. The desired outcome is an agreement on the scope and priorities for an articulated system of economic statistics, i.e. that we have described what the current system is and what the future system could look like to address thematic issues such as globalization, digitization, and well-being and sustainability related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Description of the present and future state of the system of economic statistics (incl. linking to SDGs)Discussion on the framework including links to SDGs, gaps, priorities and changes needed
Tuesday, 3 December 2019: 10am - 6pm
10:00 - 11:00 am
5. Recap and reflections from Day 1 (Moderator Anil Arora)
This session provides an opportunity to review the discussion from day 1, to further elaborate on the key discussion points, and provide an opportunity for additional debate following overnight reflections.
Secretariat to provide document capturing key points, ‘parked’ issues etc. from day 111:00 am - 1:00 pm
6. Potential improvements to the system of economic statistics? (the ‘how’) (Moderator Jorgen Elmeskov)
This session will build on session four (which described what the system of economic statistics is and its future state) with a discussion on how we can better deliver this system and serve to our users through changes to the institutional settings that: e.g. increase responsiveness, increase multi-country collaboration, and increase concerted experimentation. The desired outcome is an agreement on a set of recommendations for improving the agility of the system of economic statistics.
Ideas for improving the flexibility and responsiveness of international standard settingIdeas for improving and scaling in-country and multi-country collaboration on statistical infrastructure (systems, registers, platforms)
Ideas for increasing concerted experimentation on the broadening of the umbrella framework, statistical operations and statistical infrastructure (new data, methods and framework)
Discussion on recommendations to take forward
3:00 - 6:00 pm
7. Governance of the system of economic statistics (Moderator Mariana Kotzeva)
This session will: discuss current governance arrangements; develop/agree to a set of principles which could be used to inform the assessment of current governance arrangements; agree whether changes are required; and what these changes may look like - i.e. evolution (incremental) or transformational (system-wide). The desired outcome is an agreed position on what the road-map for changes to the governance of the enhanced system of economic statistics could look like with possible options (including whether changes are required).
Current inventory working groups (and the like) including reporting lines and links between the groupsPrinciples for guiding governance arrangements
Pathfinder governance projects (2) which would demonstrate different governance mechanisms as options for members to react to
Discussion on possible changes to the governance
Wednesday, 4 December 2019: 9am - 1pm
9:00 - 10:00 am
8. Review of day 2 discussion and further reflections (Moderator Anil Arora)
This session provides an opportunity to review the discussion from day 2, to further elaborate on the key discussion points, and provide an opportunity for additional discussion following overnight reflections.
Secretariat to provide document capturing key points, ‘parked’ issues etc. from day 210:00 am - 1:00 pm
9. FOCG Work Program (Moderator Anil Arora)
This session will be used to develop agreement on next steps for the Group, and to finalise the UNSC report.
Reporting to the 51st UNSCMain topics, contributions and dates for the 3rd meeting
Broader user consultation through UN Global Forum on Economic Statistics (in 2020)
Friends of the Chair Groups
-
FOCG on Economic Statistics
FOCG First Meeting
High Level Seminar on the Future of Economic Statistics
FOCG Second Meeting