COUNTRY PAPER - CAMBODIA Khin Song 1 September 2009 1 Deputy Director General, National Institute of Statistics, Cambodia
I. BACKGROUND Since 1979, Cambodia had adopted a decentralized statistical structure. The statistical programmes are administered and operated under the authority of separate government ministries. The statistical system is constituted of the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) as the central statistics office located under the Ministry of Planning (MOP), with statistical bureaus and sections within planning and statistics departments in ministries, and statistical bureaus in the planning and statistics services in the provinces and districts. The decentralized statistical units in ministries and departments collected and compiled statistics through periodic reports obtained from enterprises and institutions, and by processing administrative records. DOS was upgraded to NIS in 1994 and its staff strengthened and its functional responsibilities enlarged from one of compiling data compiled by decentralized offices to one of collecting primary data through the development and implementation of household and establishment survey systems and conduct of census operations. The Asian Development Bank, UNDP, UNFPA and others have been providing technical assistance to rehabilitate the statistical system of Cambodia. The NIS is the national focal point which co-operates with national and international institutions on statistical matters. The statistical data collected by NIS through surveys it undertakes and through data compiled from decentralized units are the principal sources for government decision making and serves the needs of private and international users. Cambodian Statistical System benefits from the projects on Statistical System Development in Cambodia financed by ADB since 1992: Phase I: Strengthening Macro Economic Management and Training Project- Aug 1992 to March 1995. TA 1694- CAM. Phase II: Statistical System Development Project- April 1995 to April 1999. ADB TA No. 2261-CAM. Phase III: Statistical System Development Project- January 2000 to January 2003. ADB TA No. 3293- CAM. In 1992 when we started the first project of ADB and UNDP, the staff strength of DOS was around 40 staff at central level and 450 staff at local level (provinces and districts). MOP strengthened DOS and upgraded it to NIS in 1994. In September 1997, NIS has received the status of Directorate General of the Ministry of Planning. The NIS strengthened further its authority by the enactment of Statistics Law in 2005. According to the Statistics Law, the NIS is the Directorate General of the Ministry of Planning but the technical independence is ensured by statistical legislation. The title of Director of NIS and Deputy Director of NIS has changed to Director General and Deputy Director General of NIS in early 2006. The number of staff has increased particularly at central level and the budget has reached 6 million US$ in 2007 (2008 is the census year). The NIS has total staff strength of 260 at central level and 375 staff at local offices (provinces and districts). Cambodia participated in the GDDS of IMF since 2001. The Statistics Law was enacted in May 2005 and statistics on statistics organization approved in December 2006. NIS has opened policies, NIS website launched in December 2000, NIS Data Users Service Center opened to public. NIS has team to disseminate important statistical findings and statistical legislation like population census, DHS, Statistics Law to wide range of users and population including policy makers, technical staff at central and local 2
level (all provinces and districts staff, users of statistics). The Statistics Law is widely known in Cambodia. II. HISTORY In the modern period statistical activities began when Cambodia was a French protectorate 1863-1953, however it was only in 1948 that a separate department titled the Statistics Department of Cambodia was formally established as a central statistics office. Since then, the Department has undergone many transformations due to political, economic and social circumstances. Its name, role and activities have changed from time to time. Between 1948 and 1953 it was titled the Statistics Department of Cambodia and from 1953 to 1963 it was named the Department of Statistics and Economic Study and from 1963 to 1975 it was known as the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Research under the Ministry of Planning. The statistical system had deteriorated in the early 1970s and was dismantled in 1975 and it was re-established only in 1979. During this period the qualified statisticians and statistical cadres have either died or left the country. From 1979 to 1981 DOS was under the Ministry of Finance and it was assigned to the Ministry of Planning (MOP) in the same year under which it continued to function. 1. The statistical system at project inception: Statistics was not a priority subject. Statistical office lacked authority, staff, equipment and funds. In 1992 when we started the first project of ADB and UNDP, the staff strength of DOS was around 40 and we had no one computer and the buildings of DOS were in the very bad state. A decentralized statistical system with the DOS located under the Ministry of Planning and bureaus in line ministries and provincial administration was setup. These bureaus functioned practically independently of DOS. DOS did not collect primary data and depended on data furnished by line ministries by the periodical reports. However, this system of reporting was broken down gradually since early 1990. 2. Strengthening of Department of Statistics : MOP strengthened DOS and upgraded it to NIS in 1994. In September 1997, NIS has received the status of Directorate General of the Ministry of Planning. Now, the NIS is recognized as important institution serving the needs of various data users. Besides the significant achievements under the ADB projects, the population census was conducted successfully in March 1998. III. STRATEGIES AND PLANS FOR IMPROVEMENT 1. The need good quality national statistics on the Cambodian economy, society and population was recognized by Royal Government of Cambodia authorities at an early stage, and reflected accordingly in the first five-year Socio- Economic Development Plan (SEDP-I). However, there was no separate strategic plan focusing solely on statistical development at that time. The production of official statistics at the sector level was viewed as a planning function of each of the relevant ministries. Given the limited financial resources available to government, the initial focus was on a moderate redevelopment of resources and staff to strengthen the planning function within line ministries. 2. The initial position of the authorities was that the existing administrative processes and regulations would continue to provide the data needed to compile official statistics. What was not appreciated at the time was that the administrative data collections set up to provide statistics for a centrally planned economy were neither suitable nor of sufficient quality to 3
meet the information needs of decision and policy makers in a transition economy. Furthermore, the commencement of process of decentralizing decision-making and devolving responsibility away from the center was also weakening the capacity of Ministry of Planning (MoP) to ensure effective data coordination. Another compounding factor was that responsibilities for specific statistics were not clearly defined This resulted in significant duplication of effort and uncertainty about which set of statistics were the official statistics (e.g. consumer price indexes produced by Ministry Economy and Finance (MEF) and National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), national accounts produced by MEF and MoP). 3. By early 1994, the authorities had realized that while devolution was important in improving government operations and the provision of services, responsibility for basic official statistics needed to be centralized and that stronger data coordination mechanisms were needed. This led to the establishment of the NIS, as the national statistical institute, within MoP in that year. The NIS was given sole responsibility for key official national statistics, such as the consumer price index, national accounts and population statistics. The implementation of the Sub-decree on Statistical Obligations in 1997 elevated the NIS from a department to a directorate general and strengthened its coordination role. 4. The authorities also realized that the administrative data collections were not providing suitable source data to compile key economic and socio-demographic statistics, and that statistics staff had little to no experience in compiling the statistics required. As resources were scarce, the authorities recognized the need to enlist the donor community in financing and providing technical assistance in: development statistical capacity, skills, and infrastructure; conducting survey; and compiling key economic and socio-demographic statistics. 5. While the authorities would have liked to have engaged the donor community in developing an integrated approach to developing the National Statistics System (NSS) and official statistics, government was constrained by the differing TA capacity and development priorities of the various multilateral and bilateral donors. As a result, the authorities developed separate statistical plans, and partnerships with key multilateral donors, for each area of statistics over 1993 to1997. The main development partners over the past decade have been: the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), for economic and financial statistics; the ADB, for environment and natural resource statistics; and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), for sociodemographic statistics. While these multilateral donors provided the main financing and/or technical assistance in developing Cambodia s official statistics, the authorities also engaged bilateral donors and other multilateral donors to: supplement major development activities; conduct one-off survey; and support sector statistics. 6. By 1997, both the authorities and donors recognized that separate TA agreements had hampered effective data coordination and made it difficult to reduce duplication, especially in data collection activities. This led to improvements in the coordination of TA between donors and between line ministries. It also resulted in a strengthening of the role of the NIS in facilitating more effective data coordination and integration between 1998 and 2002. 7. The second Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP-II) also helped in increasing the focus on statistics capacity development and the need for improved data coordination and integration. The plan included initiatives to expand data collection and compilation for a 4
number of sectors, especially poverty statistics, as well as improving national statistics. However, statistical development was still seen as part of the overall development objectives for each area of economic and social concern and the responsibility of the relevant line ministry. 8. By 2002, statistical development planning had reached a degree of maturity and become more integrated, reflecting the two main overall objectives of the authorities of economic growth and poverty reduction. The statistical objectives set out in the second Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP-II) and the first National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) reflects this integrated approach. In addition the first NIS Strategic Plan, 2002-2006, and five-year NIS Forward Work Program, 2003-2007, were released in July 2002. The documents outline longterm statistics development strategies and annual development priorities for the NIS and NSS. The authorities also convened a statistics workshop in October 2002, on Partnerships in Statistics Capacity Building for Cambodia (SCB). Participant included all line ministries with responsibility for official statistics and the donor community in Cambodia. In the addition to the NIS plan and work program, a future 58 statistics capacity development proposals were presented at the workshop. In term of content, the NIS plan work program, and proposals discussed at the workshop constitute the main elements of a Statistics Master Plan for Cambodia. It is the intention of the NIS authorities to develop and release the master plan by mid-2004. 9. Cambodia adopting the IMF General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) framework has also further improved statistics planning and monitoring. The GDDS metadata templates were prepared by the NIS, with IMS GDDS mission and MSA assistance, in December 2001. The RGC officially adopted GDDS in February 2002. Short-term and medium-term plan to improve the production and dissemination of official statistics have been developed and are being implemented, as resources permit. The NIS, with MSA assistance, has been monitoring progress and completed its first GDDS Review in February 2003. Good progress has been made in implementing short-term plans, especially for balance of payments, national accounts, consumer prices, monetary and banking, education and poverty statistics. IV. PARTNERSHIPS IN STATISTICS CAPACITY BUILDING 1. ADB TA has underpinned the development of NIS real sector economic statistics since 1992, as well as supporting capacity development more generally across the NIS. Approximately US$ 3million in financing has been provided through the ADB s Strengthening Macro-economic Management and Training Project (TA1694-CAM) and the Statistical System Development Program (TA2261-3293-CAM), Phases I to III. Under the first two phases the ADB provided a resident Senior Statistics Advisor, from 1994 to 1997, as well as, sending several short-term experts and providing financing, to assist the NIS in strengthening statistical management, staff development, and socio-economic survey. The latter TA program has focused primarily on strengthening labor force, national accounts and prices statistics, developing related establishment and household survey capacity, and data coordination between economic ministries and NIS. ADB has also provided separate TA to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and MEF in strengthening the statistics capacity for these important source data ministries. 5
2. In contrast to the ADB s focus on NIS economic statistics capacity building, the primary focus of IMF STA in Cambodia over the past decade has been to strengthen macroeconomic and financial statistics, especially balance of payments and international investment statistics, produce by the Customs and Excise Department (CED), Council for the Department of Cambodia (CDC), MEF, NBC and NIS. However, more recently the STA has been extended to providing support to the authorities and STA partners in coordinating and strengthening sociodemographic statistics, with an emphasis on education, health, poverty, and population statistics produced by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MOEYS), Ministry of Health (MoH), MoP and NIS. 3. The Fund posted a resident Balance of Payment Statistics Advisor to assist the NBC on balance of payments, international investment and international trade statistics from May 1995 to May 1997. In November 2001, following a request from the authorities, the IMF appointed a resident Multi-sector Statistics Advisor (MSA) to Cambodia. The MSA position is financed through the IMF Japan Administrative account. The MSA has assisted the NIS, NBC, MEF, MoP, and other relevant line agencies and ministries strengthening economic, financial and socio-demographic statistics within the GDDS framework over a two-year period. The posting is expected to be extended for a third year to around December 2004. Since late 1992, the Fund has also sent 15 STA missions (80 expert weeks) to Cambodia to assist with macroeconomic and financial statistics and GDDS implementation. 4. In addition to the above, the Strengthening Economic and Financial Management Project Technical Cooperation Action Plan (TCAP), with US$ 6 million in financing by IMF, ADB, Netherlands, United Kingdom and UNDP, commenced in May 2001. TCAP has focused primarily on improving economic and financial management and includes an objective to strengthen related statistics capacity and infrastructure. The MSA position and related IMF missions are now part of the TCAP framework and its statistics objective has been expanded to include strengthening statistical prerequisites. Under TCAP, the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (UK-DFID) has strengthened NIS statistics infrastructure in Phnom Penh and the provinces, as well as providing financing for statistics training courses and workshops. 5. UNDP and UNFPA have focused mainly on developing socio-demographic statistics. Other UN agencies have also provided significant TA in the latter area. Approximately US$ 5million in UNDP TA has underpinned the development of poverty statistics in Cambodia, as well as NIS capacity in conducting socio-economic surveys. UNFPA TA has focused on developing Cambodia s demographic and population statistics. Financing and technical assistance of around US$ 8 million has been provided over the years to conduct demographic survey and the 1998 General Population Census of Cambodia, and to compile and disseminate demographic and population statistics. UNDP, UNICEF and the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), have supported the development of Cambodia s education and literacy statistics. ADB, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and United States agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Health Organization (WHO) are supporting the development of health statistics in Cambodia. 6. In terms of environment and natural resources statistics, ADB, the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Mekong River Commission (MRC) have provided TA on strengthening statistics capacity. In 6
addition, a number of other bilateral donors have provided TA to various agencies and ministries since 1993. V. IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES 1. Statistics legislation and regulations Considerable attention has been given to developing statistics legislation in recent years. The prime ministerial Sub-decree on Statistics Obligations was drafted and promulgated in 1997. The drafting of the Statistics Law commenced in earnest in early 2000, with ADB STA. The draft Law was substantially revised between November 2001 and May 2002, with IMF MSA assistance, in order to incorporate the fundamental principles of official statistics and in recognition of the need for stronger coordination mechanisms given the highly decentralized nature of the NSS. The draft Law was approved by the Council of Ministers in June 2002 and submitted to the National Assembly in August 2002. The Law is expected to be enacted in late 2003. In addition, a draft Sub-decree on Statistics Obligations, Roles and Responsibilities has been prepared and is being discussed by an inter-ministerial technical working group. The Subdecree on Designated Official Statistics and related statistics regulations are currently being prepared. Statistical regulations have also been prepared and approved by the NBC Governor to implement the International Transactions Reporting System (ITRS) collection and the release of the new quarterly Balance of Payments, Cambodia publication. 2. Statistics coordination The draft Statistics Law and Sub-decrees include specific provisions to establish the Statistics Advisory Council and Statistics Coordination Committee (including provisions relating to the composition and functions of these bodies), as well as to implement other formal coordination mechanisms and institutional arrangements. The NIS has established Technical Working Groups, with ADB assistance, for statistics legislation, agriculture statistics, environment and natural resources statistics, and foreign trade statistics. Statistics cooperation has also been expanded and improved, with IMF MSA assistance, between the NIS, ministries and institutions over the past year in relation to data-sharing arrangements. The IMF MSA has assisted the NIS in improving the coordination of donor financing and technical assistance for statistics capacity building for MEF, MoP, NBC and NIS. The MSA has worked closely with various ADB, ESCAP, GTZ, IMF, JICA, JOCV, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and other experts and volunteers. Assistance has been provided to the authorities in coordinating ADB experts and IMF missions and in the preparation of ADB TA and IMF mission proposals. 3. Statistical planning frameworks With IMF MSA assistance, a Strategic and forward Work Program Planning and Monitoring Framework was implemented for NIS in February 2002. Monthly meetings are held by MoP/NIS senior officials and weekly meetings by NIS Department Heads to monitor progress in implementing capacity development and the statistics work program. The NIS Forward Work Program 2002 to 2006, NIS Forward Work Program 2003 to 2007, and the NIS Strategic Plan 2002 to 2006 were approved and released in April and July 2002 respectively. Work program planning and monitoring has also been introduced for statistics units in MEF, NBC, MOEYS and MoH, through the GDDS framework. Similarly, awareness of the need for work plans and 7
monitoring has been significantly raised for most other statistics units of the RGC by the MSA through the development of SCB project proposals, as well as the conduct of the SCB workshop in October 2002. 4. Statistical development A broad review of current statistics capacity was conducted with IMF MSA assistance from January to May 2002 and the findings were released in the Report on Statistical Capacity Building for Cambodia Official Statistics in June 2002. The report should be considered as a draft Statistics Master Plan and includes broad programs, and financing and STA requirements, for the development and improvement of the official economic, environment and sociodemographic statistics. As mentioned above, the SCB workshop was conducted in October 2002 and 58 project proposals were discussed. The final SCB Workshop was successful in improving donor and government understanding of Cambodia current statistics capacity, as well as raising donor and government awareness in terms of the need to: - Implement appropriate statistics legislation and regulations, and ensure that the legislation and regulation are enforced; - Increase RGC appropriations and donor financing for official statistics; - Establish a central body to advise the RGC and NIS on the statistical development priorities and emerging demands for statistics; - Improve coordination within the donor community and government on TA issues; - Establish a central statistics coordination committee, implement formal mechanisms, and other institutional arrangements to ensure effective coordination of statistics capacity development, activities and information-sharing; - Strengthen staffing, IT resources, and facilities commensurate with the demand for official statistics, and implement more effective resource monitoring; - Improve remuneration and career paths for statistics staff; - Implement an integrated skills development strategy for statistics staff; - Introduce performance management and merit-based recruitment and promotion processes for statistics staff; - Ensure efficient use of resources by eliminating duplication and leveraging the survey and data processing capacity of the NIS; - Ensure official statistics are produced on an impartial and independent basis, and introduce transparent statistical policies and practices; - Ensure the methodological basis for official statistics is in line with international standards and good practice; - Ensure the quality of statistics methods and the accuracy and reliability of statistics; and - Ensure that official statistics and related metadata are readily accessible, comparable, timely, and that periodicity of release are aligned to data user needs. VI. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Statistical Master Plan (SMP) sets out a long-term, prioritised plan for Cambodia s national statistical system (NSS). It covers the whole of the NSS, including the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), statistical units in line ministries, and the National Bank of Cambodia. The Plan builds on earlier work done by the NIS, including the preparation of a Five Year Strategic Plan and a Five Year Forward Work Programme. The Plan also 8
draws on the work done at a Statistical Capacity Building Workshop hosted by the Ministry of Planning (MOP) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) in October 2002, where a large number of priority statistical projects were proposed by various Ministries, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and NIS. The Statistical Master Plan (SMP) provides the strategic long-term view and long-term financing plan needed for planning statistical activities (which have long planning horizons and often take place over several years). Earlier reviews have highlighted the fact that that there was no broad agreement on the priority ranking of the proposed statistics activities, and, in total, might have stretched the absorptive capacity of the NIS. There was also a significant funding gap, if Cambodia was to conduct its core statistical activities and build adequate statistical capacity. This Plan and the related funding proposal has now been agreed between the relevant stakeholders in government and development partners and will now be submitted to the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in time for the Plan s inclusion in the 2008 Budget Law. By setting out clearly the intended work programme of the NSS, the SMP provides an indication of the aspirations of the RGC and of its priorities between competing statistical requirements. It should also prove useful to external agencies and donors that are engaged in assisting the RGC to develop a fully functioning NSS. It provides a framework for technical assistance and a basis for better coordination among donors within the context of the priorities established by the Government. The highest priority for the NSS is to maintain existing economic and socio-demographic statistics, and to improve their quality and timeliness. Some additional activities are included as high priority in order to improve quality and fill gaps in the priority outputs. Priority statistics include: compilation of the annual and quarterly National Accounts; the expanded Consumer Price Index; producer and agricultural commodity price indices; indices of agricultural and industrial production and of retail sales; and labour force statistics and a labour costs index. Also included are: agricultural production statistics and crops, livestock and fisheries statistics; education, health, labour market and tourism statistics; and poverty and demographic measures and access to basic facilities. The current financing gap for priority activities is USD 26.73 million over the eight year SMP period. Total direct costs over the period are estimated to be USD 35.7 million so the funding gap is about 75 percent of total requirements. The total of USD 35.7 million includes some USD 10.96 million for census work censuses of population, agriculture and business establishments. It also includes some USD 11.8 million for surveys of households (on income and expenditure, health, demographic, labour force and other subjects) and of establishments and demography work. These activities have relied on external funding in the past. The estimated RGC statistics budget for priority activities in 2007 is USD 0.7 million. It is suggested that RGC funding for priority statistical activities increase by around 10 percentage points of the financing gap a year over the period to 100 percent by 2015. Under this profile, RGC funding for priority statistical activities would increase to USD 3.7 million a year by 2015 (at 2007 constant prices). If all the non-priority activities are 9
included, some USD 5.4 million a year (at 2007 constant prices) would be required. By comparison, the 2005 government budget allocations for statistics is USD 11 million for Vietnam, USD 15 million for Thailand, and USD 30 million for Malaysia. Over the period covered by the SMP, external assistance could increasingly focus on further developments, improvements and new activities not covered by the current priority list. The Census programme outlined is for a Population census in 2008, Agricultural census in 2009 and an Establishments census in 2011. Household surveys should be based on a continuous household survey programme approach. Large occasional surveys (e.g. NDHS) will be integrated into this framework, with larger sample sizes and detailed questionnaires as before (to maintain comparability over time in Cambodia, and internationally with other countries). Statistical capacity development will continue to be highly reliant on external inputs of technical assistance. The key component of statistical capacity building is training. But training inputs have to be coordinated to meet the overall objectives of development of the capacity of the NSS rather than being delivered in a piecemeal manner. On-the-job training is an important component to augment and consolidate formal training. Management training must be provided as well as technical statistical training. The new Statistics Law provides consultation and cooperation mechanisms to develop the NSS. Priority statistical activities can be established through these mechanisms. These will enable statistical standards, classification systems and methodologies to be developed and updated consistently across all Cambodian official statistics. 10