Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) held the Meeting on the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product of Thailand, on January 15, 1999, at Prince Palace Hotel, Mahanak, Bangkok.
Mr Sansern Wongcha-um, Deputy Secretary-General of NESDB and the Meeting Chairman briefed the participants on the meeting background that, in response to the membership of the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), the Quarterly Gross Domestic Products (QGDP), has been initiated to reflect the timely and valid scenarios of economic situations. The QGDP project was approved by NESDB on August 26, 1996, to be jointly worked out by NESDB and Bank of Thailand, with the duration of 2 years (1997-1998). The task would be subject to the supervision of the QGDP Steering Committee, comprising the experts from the data users and supplier agencies.
The Deputy Secretary-General stated that, as a national economic planning agency, NESDB realized the importance of macro-economic data, in particular the part of national accounts. This was in response to the need to keep pace with the rapidly-evolving economic situations, both national and international, and with the world's rising economic competition. Since the country's sound economic planning depended, to a great extent, on the basic macro-economic data, the conventional annual national accounting could not efficiently serve in producing timely economic indicators.
The ofjectives of this meeting were to present the proceedings of the initiation of the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product, and to undergo a public hearing to gain a consensus for improving the national accounts system, in consonance with the need of the data users, and based on transparency, accuracy and reliability. The meeting was also aimed to build inter-agency cooperation in prepareing their quarterly economic data in line with the QGDP.
According to Mr. Sansern, the framework of the QGDP process was as follows:
1. The GDG would be formulated with both the production approach and the expenditure approach, and at both current prices and constant prices (with the year 1988 as the base), the same as the former annual national accounts formulation.
2. The accounting system of QGDP was almost the same as that of the annual national accounts, with the production categorized into production sectors, and the expenditure categorized into various types of expenditure.
3. The data were dated back to 1993, taking seasonal adjustment in each quarter.
Since the QGDP was just introduced for the first time, problems and obstacles would most probably take place. The process to obtain valid and updated QGDP needed to take account of two elements.
First, the accurate and timely QGDP or the national accounts depended on the data systems of the concerned government and private agencies, having the data collected on a continual basis and under the same standard.
Second, the QGDP should be published transparently to get feedbacks from the experts of various sectors, and to ensure its consonance with the actual economic situations.
The Deputy Secretary-General concluded that, NESDB expected the QGDP to be useful in bringing about a sound and efficient economic planning capacity. The benefits expected from QGDP were as follows;
- To serve as the framework for the economic cycle analysis.
- To serve as basic indicators of economic development.
- To be employed as estimated figures for the annual national accounts.
- To be used in the projection of economic situations.
--Development News Bulletin, National Economic and Social Development Board, Volume 14, No. 2 : February 1999--
Mr Sansern Wongcha-um, Deputy Secretary-General of NESDB and the Meeting Chairman briefed the participants on the meeting background that, in response to the membership of the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), the Quarterly Gross Domestic Products (QGDP), has been initiated to reflect the timely and valid scenarios of economic situations. The QGDP project was approved by NESDB on August 26, 1996, to be jointly worked out by NESDB and Bank of Thailand, with the duration of 2 years (1997-1998). The task would be subject to the supervision of the QGDP Steering Committee, comprising the experts from the data users and supplier agencies.
The Deputy Secretary-General stated that, as a national economic planning agency, NESDB realized the importance of macro-economic data, in particular the part of national accounts. This was in response to the need to keep pace with the rapidly-evolving economic situations, both national and international, and with the world's rising economic competition. Since the country's sound economic planning depended, to a great extent, on the basic macro-economic data, the conventional annual national accounting could not efficiently serve in producing timely economic indicators.
The ofjectives of this meeting were to present the proceedings of the initiation of the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product, and to undergo a public hearing to gain a consensus for improving the national accounts system, in consonance with the need of the data users, and based on transparency, accuracy and reliability. The meeting was also aimed to build inter-agency cooperation in prepareing their quarterly economic data in line with the QGDP.
According to Mr. Sansern, the framework of the QGDP process was as follows:
1. The GDG would be formulated with both the production approach and the expenditure approach, and at both current prices and constant prices (with the year 1988 as the base), the same as the former annual national accounts formulation.
2. The accounting system of QGDP was almost the same as that of the annual national accounts, with the production categorized into production sectors, and the expenditure categorized into various types of expenditure.
3. The data were dated back to 1993, taking seasonal adjustment in each quarter.
Since the QGDP was just introduced for the first time, problems and obstacles would most probably take place. The process to obtain valid and updated QGDP needed to take account of two elements.
First, the accurate and timely QGDP or the national accounts depended on the data systems of the concerned government and private agencies, having the data collected on a continual basis and under the same standard.
Second, the QGDP should be published transparently to get feedbacks from the experts of various sectors, and to ensure its consonance with the actual economic situations.
The Deputy Secretary-General concluded that, NESDB expected the QGDP to be useful in bringing about a sound and efficient economic planning capacity. The benefits expected from QGDP were as follows;
- To serve as the framework for the economic cycle analysis.
- To serve as basic indicators of economic development.
- To be employed as estimated figures for the annual national accounts.
- To be used in the projection of economic situations.
--Development News Bulletin, National Economic and Social Development Board, Volume 14, No. 2 : February 1999--