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BPS to revise GDP calculation
In a bid to give a better picture of the countryâs current economic condition, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) will use the year 2010 as the basis for its calculation of the gross domestic product (GDP)
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n a bid to give a better picture of the country's current economic condition, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) will use the year 2010 as the basis for its calculation of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Until now, the agency has used the year 2000 for its calculations.
The change in the basis for the calculation follows a recommendation from the United Nations (UN), which has suggested that statistics agencies in 189 countries implement the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA2008).
The SNA2008 will be implemented through a framework called the 'Supply and Use Tables (SUT)', BPS deputy head of balance and statistics analysis Suharyanto said at a press briefing in Jakarta.
The change is also based on Indonesia's significant economic transformation in the last 10 years caused by global influences, as well as the BPS' goal to maintain consistency between various approaches to the GDP.
Suharyanto said the new standard of calculation would either increase or decrease the country's GDP when the BPS announces the 2014 GDP in February next year.
'The new calculation will affect the GDP, whether to increase or decrease it from its current Rp 9,800 trillion [US$804.7 billion]. However, I cannot report now about the amount, because we need to calculate it first,' he said.
Suharyanto said the BPS would recalculate the whole 2014 GDP, including the upcoming fourth quarter report, based on statistics from 2010.
Based on the 2010 statistics, Suharyanto said, the GDP is predicted to increase by around 6.47 percent.
As a comparison, Malaysia and Singapore recorded GDP increases of 3.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, after they recalculated their GDPs using the new international standard.
'The increases of more developed countries tend to be smaller because they have a larger baseline for GDP,' said the BPS director of balance spending, Sri Soelistyowati.
Suharyanto added that the new standard would change various macroeconomic indicators, such as taxes, debt and investment ratios, as well as current-account and economic growth.
The number of business sectors will also increase from the current nine to 17, he said.
'The new calculation will shift the country's segment based on its earnings per capita. The country's GDP will also be more comparable at the international level,' he said.
Suharyanto said the UN had given the freedom to each statistics agency to choose which year to use as their basis for calculation, for either a five-year or 10-year calculation.
The BPS chose the 10-year calculation because of its finding that Indonesia's economy was quite stable in 2010, he said.
'Another reason is to provide a new GDP result to the new administration, which is currently preparing its National Mid-Term Development Plan [RPJMN],' he said.
