III. DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES

1
III. DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES

• OVERVIEW OF DATA SOURCES AND SURVEY METHODOLOGY
  IN ESCWA REGION ESCWA
• KEY DATA SOURCES
• UTILIZING ADMINSTRATIVE DATA
• COMBINING SOURCES OF DATA IN BOP
• Discussion
• Country papers

2
Data Sources

• Enterprise surveys
• International Transactions Reporting System
  (ITRS)
• Administrative data
• Household Surveys
• Other sources
• Combining ITRS and enterprise surveys

3
Enterprise Surveys

• Coverage
• all entities engaged in international trade in
  services
• sample selection census/stratified
  sample/random sample
• Responsibility
• - (generally) the national statistical office
• Requisites
• high quality business register
• appropriate questionnaire design
• effective timely data collection procedures
• data processing quality assurance,
  reasonableness

4
ITRS

• Coverage
• Bank reporting of clients international
  transactions
• Supplementary information for non-bank
  settlements netting
• Responsibility
• Central Bank
• Respondents
• domestic banks and other foreign exchange
  dealers e.g. Western Union, Moneygram (indirect
  reporting)
• additional information surveys of residents
  holding accounts abroad or involved in
  clearing/netting schemes (direct reporting)
• Advantages
• timely, comprehensive coverage
• - small number of respondents

5
ITRS

• Limitations
• Settlements outside banks
• Misclassifications
• Treatment of remittances
• Residency of transactors
• Transactions allocated to Other

6
Administrative data

• Data from government departments
• Migration arrivals/departures, origin/
  destination, length of stay, purpose of stay...
• Work permits number and type of work permits
  granted (by duration / occupation)
• Social security/ health insurance data
  (identification of foreigners/non-residents)
• Tourism authorities expenditure surveys
• Finance/Foreign Affairs/EcDev Development
  assistance
• Embassies local/external expenditures

7
Migration Statistics
Why relevant? Key categories
Key data source for travel, and temporary
migration for the purpose of work

• Visitors and foreign business travellers (Mode
  2)
• Foreign border-workers (Income in BOP data)
• Seasonal temporary migrant workers (Income if
  purely wages, or services - Mode 4 - if it
  involves the provision of a product e.g.
  engineering, computer services)
• Project-tied workers (Income or services - Mode
  4 - as above)

8
Population/Household surveys

• Coverage
• Activities/ expenditures by Individuals and
  Households
• Responsibility
• Statistics Office (generally)
• Respondents
• Population (Population censuses summary
  income/expenditure data)
• Households (Household expenditure surveys
  expenditures on domestic/foreign travel,
  education, health, shelter, leisure, etc.)
• Advantages
• Comprehensive coverage
• Can cover non-standard transactions (e.g.
  internet purchases)
• Limitations
• Relatively expensive to administer
• Timeliness, reliability can be problematic

9
Collection Systems for BOP Statistics

• Main sources for compilation of BOP statistics
• International Transaction reporting System
  (ITRS)
• Enterprise surveys
• Administrative data
• Supplementary sources
• Travel and household expenditure surveys
• Official sources and government transactions
• Partner countries and International
  Organizations
• Economic intelligence (newspapers, magazines,
  etc.)

Need for co-operation with other institutions