Statistics New Zealand is currently consulting on a quality plan for the Balance of Payments (BOP) and International Investment Position (IIP) statistics. The focus of this quality plan is to discuss factors that lead to quality concerns within Statistics New Zealand's BOP statistics, prioritise these issues, discuss some of the known areas of unmet data needs of users and highlight areas where the reporting differs from current international reporting standards and from anticipated changes to those standards.
Once user views are canvassed, the quality plan will be reviewed and the proposed resource requirements finalised. Subject to resourcing, the implementation will begin once the final plan is endorsed by Statistics New Zealand.
This quality plan is presented in two parts. Part 1 discusses factors that have lead to quality concerns, and lists and discusses particular items of concern. There are two key indicators that highlight concern for quality of the New Zealand BOP and IIP statistics. They are the large and often fluctuating net errors and omissions amount recorded in the BOP statement, and the magnitude of revisions to BOP and IIP data, particularly to the financial account. A systematic review of the BOP and IIP data at the individual component level has identified a number of issues which contribute to the key indicators of quality. These generally fall into two distinct areas: methodological issues and research and development issues.
Part 2 of the quality plan describes the way forward. Initiatives are already underway at Statistics New Zealand to address some of the data quality concerns, particularly in the International Trade in Services statistics in the BOP current account. A priority list of other issues, with an estimate of the resource required to resolve them is presented. The paper also discusses some of the known unmet data needs of users of BOP and IIP statistics. These are yet to be prioritised, resourced and structured into projects. Finally, the paper includes a discussion of Statistics New Zealand's current compilation of BOP, IIP and related statistics against international reporting standards. These standards are developing to keep pace with the evolution of the international economic and financial environment.
Feedback
Your feedback to Part 2 in particular is sought. These views are wanted by 8 June 2004 for the plan to be endorsed by end of June 2004. In particular Statistics New Zealand is seeking views on:
- Are there any significant issues which you believe should be added to the list?
- Do you agree with the priority that we have assigned to the issues?
- Do you agree with the timeframe for addressing these issues?
- Do you have any suggestions/directions?
Provide your feedback by email to: salendra.kumar@stats.govt.nz or phone 04 931 4813. Statistics New Zealand plans to hold an interested party meeting to discuss the paper, to facilitate discussion of the issues, and generate a response to this paper.
Further information about this project is available from the Balance of Payments Quality Plan - Discussion Paper: May 2004.