Macroeconomic and Financial Statistics Directorate

The Macroeconomics and Financial Statistics Directorate serves as a cornerstone of the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics (SNBS), tasked with the responsibility of producing and disseminating a timely and high-quality production of Somalia’s key economic indicators. This includes generating annual and quarterly National Accounts statistics (GDP), which are fundamental to understanding economic growth.

Serving as the technical authority in its field, the Directorate is responsible for developing and updating the methodologies for all macroeconomic and financial statistics in accordance with rigorous international standards. This includes setting the technical specifications for national accounts, price statistics (e.g., inflation), public finance, and trade data. In this capacity, the Directorate collaborates closely with the line ministries on administrative data to ensure methodological coherence across the SNBS.

The Macroeconomic and Financial Statistics Directorate has the following main responsibilities:

1. Statistics production and dissemination:

1. Creates the release calendar for publications and press releases as they relate to its statistical area (macroeconomic and financial statistics).
2. Assumes responsibility for the completion on-time and at high quality standards of all the publications and data releases within its theme.
3. Establishes the responsibilities, resources required and deadlines to be disseminated with the Directorate’s personnel regarding the creation of all statistical surveys, studies, analyses and publications.
4. Collects, analyzes, updates and disseminates the macroeconomic and financial statistics
5. .Generates national accounts statistics at annual, quarter and regional level.
6. Coordinates the creation of macroeconomic studies that are specified in the overall Program of SNBS.
7. Generates macroeconomics and financial related chapters for annual compilation publications (e.g. annual abstracts).
8. Monitors the quality of data and statistics received from third parties, while also establishing and maintaining data quality assessment frameworks specific to macroeconomic and financial statistics.
9. Ensures that all requirements for statistical data confidentiality, storing and archiving are met.

2. Methodology and technical advice:

1. Generates and updates the methodology and technical specifications for collecting, analyzing and disseminating the macroeconomic and financial statistics, including national accounts, public finances, price statistics and others, in accordance with international standards. In this regard, the Macroeconomic and Financial Statistics Directorate collaborates with the Policy, Planning and Coordination Services Directorate.
2. Maintains and updates the indicators and metadata system specific to its statistics theme (macroeconomic and financial statistics).
3. Provides technical advice on the collection and compilation of qualitative macroeconomic and financial data to all the Ministries, Agencies and Institutions that are involved in such activities.
4. Provides technical advice on macroeconomic and financial data methodologies, as required by other Directorates of SNBS and in accordance with international standards.

3. Communication and cooperation:

1. Cooperates with similar international organizations through seminars or workshops participation.
2. Coordinates the activity of interaction with the public on themes related to macroeconomic and financial statistics (e.g. answers to questions, etc.).
3. Provides statistical data to international and regional agencies, as needed.

The Directorate is organized in five sub-divisions

National Account

The National Accounts (or National Account System) involves the implementation of complete and consistent accounting techniques for measuring the economic activity of a nation. Somalia currently prides itself with the Gross Domestic Product, Supply and Use Tables (SUT) and Social Accounting matrix techniques to measure the economic activities carried out in the country. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total value of time, usually annually or quarterly. Somalia has regularly been compiling quarterly estimates since 2018.

Basically, the normal and real GDP are computed across the globe. Nominal GDP estimates are commonly used to determine the structure of the economy whereas real GDP affords users the possibility to assess economic performance even among sectors. There are three approaches adopted for producing GDP. Somalia currently produces GDP estimates using the expenditure and production approach. More information is being explored to also produce estimates by the income approach Based on availability of information GDP estimates may either be projected, provisional, revised or final.

Price Statistics

This section contains newsletters, bulletins on price statistics, especially the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI). The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures changes over time in the general price level of goods and services that households acquire for the purpose of consumption, with reference to the price level in 2018, the base year, which has an index of 100. The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures average changes in prices over time for goods and services produced in Somalia. The prices measured by PPI are known as the factory gate prices, which is the price that firms assign to their products, excluding taxes, transportation, and other costs added on by third parties.

PPI is primarily used to adjust GDP for price changes in cases where changes in GDP are driven by producer price changes rather than production. Businesses utilize PPI to inform the adjustment of prices, while contractors use the information on price changes to guide costing and budgeting.

Trade Statistics

The merchandised trade statistics or the external trade statistics are published on quarterly basis. The publication contains imports and exports by Section, imports and exports by trading partners, and non-traditional exports. The source of the data is the Somali Customer Authority.

The Macroeconomics and Financial Statistics Directorate will be managed by a Director, who is responsible for the fulfillment of all the tasks assigned to its Directorate on time and at the desired level of quality. In order to achieve these results, the Directorate will develop collaboration relationships with all the other Directorates and sub-divisions of SNBS, along with the regional offices of SNBS, as needed.

The Macroeconomics and Financial Statistics Directorate also maintains collaboration relationships with relevant Ministries, national or local organizations and institutions for obtaining but also delivering statistical information, as required. These relationships are graphically presented in the following diagram.