Figure 1.Twenty-One Countries in Africa Using ERETES Or Expected to Do So in the Near Future

EN/SUT/2014/Doc/13

Chapter 12 ERETES

1. ERETES[1] is a computer system designed to help national accountants to compile the Integrated Sector Accounts (ISA) and SUTs consistent with the UN System of National Accounts (SNA). ERETES was developed by the French national statistical office (INSEE) and EUROSTAT and is currently used by 18 countries in Africa and 7 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Algeria, the Comoros Islands, and Mauritius are expected to adopt ERETES in the near future. Figure 1 list the countries now using ERETES or expected to do so in the near future.

Figure 1.Twenty-one countries in Africa using ERETES or expected to do so in the near future.

Note: Countries in italics are expecting to use ERETES in the near future

1. Although the objective of ERETES is to generate SUTs and the ISA, ERETES can also be used by countries which have limited data resources. The minimum data requirements to use ERETEs are an enterprise and a household budget survey, foreign trade statistics, government accounts, balance of payments and banking statistics: with these data ERETES will help countries to generate current price estimates of GDP. If price or volume indices are available, constant price estimates of GDP can also be obtained. Information on intermediate consumption and on trade and transport margins is required to produce SUTs. A module designed to estimate informal sector value added requires additional data on the total labour force by kind of activity. Thus the fact that a country reported using ERETES does not necessarily mean that it is using ERETES to estimate both SUTs and ISA: some may be using it to estimate GDP without going any further. In practice, however, almost all the African countries that have adopted ERETES use it to generate both SUTs and the ISA. It should be noted that many countries using ERETES also use short-cut, rapid, estimation procedures to estimate GDP for the most recent period before the more reliable ERETES-based estimates are available.

1. There are other computer systems for national accounts apart from ERETES[2]. All make use of the accounting identities of the SNA to confront and adjust data coming from different sources. Data confrontation and adjustment are that has been essential parts of the compilation of national accounts: traditionally this was done manually but it is both quicker and more accurate to do these tasks using specially designed computer software. The main advantage of ERETES compared with other computer systems is that ERETES is supported by a permanent secretariat which can call on a group of multilingual national accountants and IT experts who have gained experience of applying the system for more than a decade in nearly thirty developing countries. ERETES is also regularly updated and improved: for example a new module is being finalized to allow ERETES to provide retrospective estimates and the latest versions of ERETES are consistent with the 2008 SNA. (Most of the ERETES versions currently used in Africa are consistent with the 1993 SNA.

1. The fact that a country reports that it is using ERETES – or some other computer system – does not guarantee that its national accounts are comprehensive and reliable: that depends as always on the reliability and range of source data available. But the use of a computer system such as ERETES ensures that whatever data are available are being exploited in the most efficient way possible.

1. Installing ERETES involves a substantial investment by countries. Data preparation before ERETES can be applied usually takes about two years as the available source data must be entered in the ERETES worksheets in a very precise and careful manner since mistakes made at this stage will falsify the results. Skilled national accounts staff will need to be taken off their regular duties for extended periods during this preparatory phase. Hitherto, no country has installed ERETES without training and technical assistance from the ERETES team. Depending on the skill levels of the recipient statistical office between seven and fifteen missions may be required with the ERETES experts staying for one or two weeks each time.

1. Once a country has agreed to install ERETES, the software itself is supplied free of charge. The main cost to countries is the travel, per diem, and accommodation of ERETES staff on mission. Until recently these costs were often met by the European Commission but this source of funding is no longer available.

1. The ERETES web page is multilingual - French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It provides practical information on ERETES, and how countries caninitiate an ERETES programme.-

[1] ERETES is the French acronym for EquilibreRessources-EmploisetTableau Entrées-Sorties (Supply-Use Balances and Input-Output Tables).Spanish and English versions of the ERETES system are available but here are no Spanish or English versions of the acronym and “ERETES” is used in all languages.ERETES is jointly owned by EUROSTAT and the French Foreign Ministry (Ministèrefrançais des Affaires Etrangères). See for further information.

[2]Malawi currently uses software for its SUTs developed by Statistics Norway.Dr Jan van Tongeren, formerly with the UN Statistical Divisionand nowat Tilburg University Netherlands, has developed a computer system that has been used to estimate SUTs in Central America. See “From national accounting to the design, compilation, and use of bayesian policy andanalysis frameworks”, Van Tongeren, J.W., Tilburg University 2011.