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1.a Thailand, a UN member
country, started compiling SNA in the 1950s
by utilizing the 1953 SNA concepts. The agency
in charge is the National Accounts Division
(NAD) which is under the National Economic and
Social Development Board (NESDB). At that time,
compilation was made in two approaches i.e.
production and expenditure. Up until 1967 when
the third, income approach, was introduced into
the system. Flow-of-funds accounts and input-output
tables were added into the system in 1975. The
balance of payment was also introduced and it
has been taken care of by the Bank of Thailand
(BOT). In addition, the National Balance Sheet
section has also been set up under the NAD during
that period. This section has been in responsible
for studying and calculating stocks of assets
and liabilities. At the early years the NAD
was staffed with more than 100 members.
In 1992, the Flow-of-Funds, I-O and National
Balance Sheet sections were together set up
as a new division, the Analysis and Projection.
In addition, the Provincial and Regional Accounts
Section under the NAD is now in a process of
transferring the task of provincial accounting
to 14 pilot provincial branches of the National
Statistic Office and local authorities. This
is in order that they can locally compile and
estimate Gross Provincial Product (GPP) in their
provinces. Now, NAD is responsible not only
for estimating national accounts and provincial
and regional product but also for some special
tasks with only 40 staff members.
1.b National accounting in Thailand is conceptually
based on the 1953 UN SNA. The accounts comprise
of six standard accounts, ten summary tables
and forty eight supplementary tables. Even though
the system is based on the 1953 SNA some items
have been developed to conform with the format
suggested by the 1968 SNA such as I-O tables.
However, the GDP presentation is still in the
1953 format. On the expenditures side, many
items have been adapted to conform with the
1968 version such as military hospital, residential
building for military personnel and military
airport. In addition, some new economic activities
recommended by the 1968 SNA have also been included
in the national income accounts.
Even though the 1993 SNA has just been introduced
to the UN members, Thailand is looking forward
to applying it. Some satellite accounts receive
significant attention especially in health,
environmental and drug accounts. Environmental
accounting is under a study on its appropriate
format and feasibility in implementation in
Thailand. National health accounting is in the
process of working arrangement since it is a
joint project between two ministries.
1.c SNA statistics of Thailand which is the
main economic data is widely used by researchers,
government officials, teachers, business sector
etc. across the country. However, there are
many difficulties encountered in compiling SNA.
Firstly, there are problems related to required
data. Some data are not available at all or
sometimes they are not perfect or not continuously
available. Changing data sources leads to inconsistency
of data and further to unavoidable adjustments
which should be avoided. In many times, data
between two sources are completely different.
This is because the data system in Thailand
is decentralized so each organization will collect
data based on its purposes. Secondly, NAD, the
main and official SNA compiling agency, is obviously
understaffed. As mentioned before its number
of staff has been significantly reduced from
more than one hundred to only forty whereas
many special projects have kept coming in to
the division. For example, in this year (1997)
the quarterly GDP estimation which means a lot
of work is suggested and introduced to Thailand.
Thirdly, there are many economic activities
that have not been counted into the system.
These activities are illegal activities like
illegal logging or sectors that are difficult
to estimate e.g. informal sector.
2.a Expected advantages of the 1993 SNA are
in terms of the ability to capture the value
of those illegal economic activities. Especially,
illegal logging which is likely to have enormous
value. Furthermore, economic value produced
by the informal sector in any developing countries,
Thailand is not exceptional, is likely to be
large. Fortunately, the new version encourages
to count this sector into the system. In addition,
the 1993 SNA can provide the source of income
so the linkage with poverty statistics can be
made whereas in the previous versions, sources
of income are mixed and unidentifiable. More
importantly since most UN member countries are
moving toward the 1993 SNA, Thailand should
do so in order that her national accounts can
be comparable to these countries.
2.b Any revision of national accounting it
needs to be carried out across the system in
order to maintain consistency within and among
the accounts in the system. Well aware of this
condition, NAD has set up a five year plan,
starting from 1997, to prepare itself in implementing
the 1993 SNA. It plans to have :
- all the staff trained
on the system of 1993 SNA,
- clear coverage and boundaries
of the 1993 SNA that suit to Thai economic
and social conditions,
- clear working steps in
adjusting the current system of national accounts
to the new version, and
- a trial run on the state
enterprise and government accounting.
However, this overall plan might not be able to
meet the schedule as an unexpected budget cut
due to the current economic crisis.
3.a It is believed that the new system can
be implemented in Thailand even though some
limitations are certain. It is likely that estimation
will be conform with the 1993 SNA in terms of
sectors and sequence of accounts. However, there
might not be enough detailed data in the accounts
as suggested, especially in the distribution
of income one. As it is foreseeable that there
is data constraint and the item of social assistance
is not significant in the case of developing
countries like Thailand. Nevertheless the step-by-step
technique will be taken in the process of implementing
the 1993 version. The very first steps will
be on the state enterprise accounts then move
on to the government accounts, the financial
sector, and further on to the business sector
before ending up at the household sector.
3.b With limited number of staff in the NAD,
some fundamental working factors need to be
well-organized in order that they can effectively
facilitate the implementation. Some measures
are :
- adjusting the current
use of Thailand Standard Industrial Classification
(TSIC) to International Standard Industrial
Classification (ISIC) : Rev.3
- turning more to the Information
Technology (IT), and
- constructing data bases
for national accounting on both input and
output sides.
3.c One major foreseeable constraint in implementing
the 1993 SNA is the data on categorized profit
and loss statements and balance sheets of business
companies. This is a priority data gap. These
statements and balance sheets are compiled by
the Ministry of Trade (M.O.T.). They are not compiled
in accordance with the ISIC. Thus, in order to
solve this problem, a joint project between M.O.T.
and NESDB may be needed.
Another difficulty will be on how to get the
household data. It is quite certain that surveys
may be the only answer. Even though the National
Statistics Office (NSO) does the job, more often
and more details are needed in order to obtain
up-to-date and adequate information for the
implementation.
3.d It is obvious that the implementation
gains a high level of support from the NESDB
executive. However, budgeting is outside the
control of the office or it depends on the central
government. Thus, uncertainty about budget is
relatively high. In terms of getting access
to needed data, the office has a plan to pay
a visit to major data sources and ask these
sources to cooperate in producing required data.
If the results from the new system is markedly
different from the current one then serious
discussion among statistic producers and users
is necessary. In addition, comments from many
government agencies including NESDB executive,
researchers, university staff and private bodies
may be needed before the results can be released
to public.
4. NAD has started its work on implementing
the 1993 SNA to some extent. It has experienced
some technical difficulties. Thus, international
support is in need in order to increase skill
on how to effectively implement the 1993 version
to its staff. The support can be in a form of
occasional consultation, or attending workshops
/ training courses / seminars on the new version.
This might fulfill the technical requirement
in implementing the 1993 SNA in Thailand.
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