Brussels, 23/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - On 17 December, the European Central Bank (ECB) released a report entitled “Review of the requirements in the field of General Economic Statistics”. This report sets out its needs regarding euro area economic statistics, in particular data on prices and costs, national accounts, the labour market, short-term indicators of output and demand, and business and consumer surveys. These statistics are, in most cases, produced by Eurostat and national statistical institutes. The report updates a similar publication released in August 2000. The European Parliament is expected to adopt a report in February 2005 on improving the EU's economic statistics system to meet the needs of Economic and Monetary Union.
The report aims to strike a balance between the ECB's requirements on the one hand and the statistics producers' need to set priorities. As a consequence, the stated requirements for the euro area as a whole have typically been derived using the statistical standards achieved by the most advanced EU Member States. The high timeliness and coverage standards achieved in other economic areas (particularly the United States) are seen as a longer-term aim, also bearing in mind the specific institutional arrangements in the EU.
The ECB notes that further important initiatives supported by the ECB are under way. These include enhancements of the legal framework for euro area quarterly accounts for institutional sectors and for short-term indicators; adoption, improved availability and timeliness of the Principal European Economic Indicators; better coordination of national and European release and revision policies for these indicators; and more effective and efficient methods for compiling euro area statistics. Yet, the current report advocates a stronger focus on compiling timely and reliable euro area aggregates and includes a proposal to coordinate the release and revision policy for national general economic statistics with the needs for euro area aggregates. It sets out requirements for monthly and quarterly figures on the service industry, noting that quality indicators for goods are vital in and of themselves, as well as for calculating GDP, prices and productivity. The reports suggests changing the priority areas for foreign trade statistics. (Report available on http: http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/other/requirementsgeneconomstat200412en.pdf )