NSCB - First Quarter 2004 National Accounts - Technical Notes on 1st Quarter 2003 Estimates Series 2004-Q1

NSCB Technical Notes on the Estimates of the Philippine System
of National Accounts (PSNA) Series 2004-Q1
(Posted: 08 June 2004)

Technical notes on the PSNA are regularly published in the NSCB website for a better appreciation of our national accounts. Reference should also be made to the earlier technical notes for the current national accounting practices adopted in the Philippines.

Merchandise Exports

We have now included an annex table of the major items under other merchandise exports in our publication since this group of commodities has been contributing substantially to total merchandise exports.

In the overall revision of the PSNA, the principal commodities shown in the present publication will be revisited and the new items contributing significantly to merchandise exports will be included.

Indicators Derived from the National Accounts

This set of indicators can be found in Table 14 of our publication. As of our May 2004 publication we have included seven new indicators as follows:

Inflow of Compensation/GDP
Inflow of Compensation/GNP
(Exports-Imports)/GDP
(Exports+Imports)/GDP
Fixed Capital Formation/GDP
PCE/GDP
National Government Debt Service/GDP

Call Centers

Call centers are accounted for in the PSNA in both the production accounts and expenditure accounts. On the production side, call centers are classified/included in Private Services under business services while on the expenditure side, it is accounted for in Exports of Non-Factor Services under Miscellaneous Services, which include communication services. The primary data sources for call centers are the Quarterly Survey of Philippine Business and Industry, conducted by the National Statistics office (NSO) and the Balance of Payments (BOP), compiled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Population Figures Used in the Accounts

The population figures used in the present PSNA publication (as of May 2004) are population estimates based on the approved NSCB Resolution No.2 Series of 2002 calling for the adoption of the decennial population census-based annual growth rates as the official population growth rate figures to be utilized for planning and policy-making purposes. The quarterly population figures used in the accounts are based on the mid quarter estimates instead of the end of the quarter estimates, which were used before.

National Accounts Link Series:

The NSCB maintains link series of the national accounts. The annual series starts from 1946 while the quarterly series starts from 1981. The last overall revision of the link series was completed in 1990 and the next overall revision is targeted for completion by November.

Revisions as of May 2004

Based on the Revision Policy approved by the NSCB Executive Board and consistent with the international practice on the revision of National Accounts, the following are the revisions in our previous estimates, based on the revisions and updates made by the data sources themselves, including those made by NSO on exports, imports, MISSI, QSPBI and CPI; BSP on the BOP; the BAS, NIA and SRA on agriculture and fishery, the Forest Management Bureau on forestry and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and DOE for Mining and Quarrying; MWCI and NPC for EGW; and COA and DBM for Government Services.

For the fourth quarter, the following revisions were made:

On the production side

Growth of Construction was revised upward from negative 9.8 % to positive 1.9%
EGW upward from 2.4% to 3.6 %
Finance upward from 6.7 % to 7.4%
ODRE upward by 3.9% to 4.8%
AFF downward from 5.5% to 5.3%
Mining and quarrying downward from 9.2% to 6.3%
Private services downward from 5.7% to 5.1%
Gov’t Services downward from 3.7% to 1.9%

On the expenditure side

PCE was revised upward from 5.2% to 5.5%
GGCE upward from 0.9 % to 2.9%
Exports upward from 7.7% to 9.8%
Durable equipment downward from 6.7% to 3.2%
Imports downward from 10.6% to 9.4%
NFIA downward from 4.2% to 2.8%

Revisions were also made on the estimates for some of the sectors for the third, second and first quarters of 2003, as well as of 2002 and 2001. As a result of all the revisions for these years,

a. GDP growth for 2002 was revised downwards from 4.4% to 4.3% while GNP growth has a downward revision from 4.5% to 4.3%;
b. GDP growth for 2003 was revised upwards from 4.5% to 4.7% while GNP growth has an upward revision from 5.5% to 5.6%

A more complete tabulation of our revisions is included in our publication of the National Accounts of the Philippine (as of May 2003).

For inquiries please contact Dir. Raymundo J. Talento at (632) 895-2425 or e-mail him at rj.talento@nscb.gov.ph.