2021 Cycle ICP: National Accounts requirements in Latin America and the Caribbean

Result of Service The main outcome of this consultancy will be: - Review the MORES for 2017 reported to the International Comparison Program (ICP) and suggest a recalculation for cases where it is determined that there are updates in the information, new calculation methods and/or change of base / reference year. - Estimate GDP components by expenditure approach for each variable: household final consumption expenditure, government final consumption expenditure, final consumption expenditure of non-profit institutions serving households, gross fixed capital formation, exports and imports for the years 2017 and 2021 at current prices following the breakdown of the 155 MORES expenditure levels. - Compilation of the Government Compensation survey using national accounts information.

Work Location Telecommuting

Expected duration 6 months, monthly payment.

Duties and Responsibilities The International Comparison Program (ICP) is a global statistical program, with more than 50 years of existence that throughout its history has involved more and more countries, reaching 176 economies in 2017. The objective of this program is to produce Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) in order to make international comparisons of gross domestic product and its components in real terms, expressed in the same monetary unit and adjusted for the different price levels in the economies. This makes comparable the macroeconomic indicators of the different economies published by the statistics offices derived from national accounts statistics in their local currency units. In addition, PPPs have been used in the formulation of both the Millennium Development Goals established in 2000 and the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, as well as in the development of indicators to measure poverty and other SDG indicators such as income inequality, spending on education and health, and all those indicators measured in relation to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In addition, at the forty-seventh session of the Statistical Commission of UN, held in March 2016, the ICP was instituted as a permanent element of the global statistical program, to be carried out on a three-year cycle. At the regional level, the participation in the ICP facilitates closer ties between the technicians who prepare national accounts and price indexes in different countries; it contributes to the necessary harmonization of methods and procedures and helps to expand the coverage and quality of these statistics. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has been actively participating in the ICP since 2005 and has played the role of regional coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2011, 2017 and 2021 cycles. Its role has been to implement the program's guidelines at the level of participating countries, which reached 33 economies in the region in the current cycle including data validation to ensure results with high level of quality for regional and global comparisons. In addition, ECLAC is in charge of producing and disseminating the results of the Program at the regional level. For some countries in the region there is a challenge in implementing the ICP because some some of them don’t compile GDP by expenditure side which a key information required in the program.

Duties and Responsibilities The main purpose of this consultancy is to estimate GDP by the expenditure approach at current prices for the countries in the region that do not have this type of indicators with alternative sources of information and indirect methods to implement the requirements of the Program for the years 2017 and 2021, according to the 155 basic headings (opening of expenditure levels) defined by the World Bank through the MORES "Modeling Report on Expenditure Statistics". Based on this information conduct the Government Compensation survey for the 2021 cycle of the ICP.

Qualifications/special skills Skills: Performance indicators - Communication and coordination with colleagues of ECLAC and Caribbean countries - Quality of the output - Timeliness of delivery of outputs - Effectiveness for GDP estimation by the expenditure approach to compile MORES and Government Compensation Survey. Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree in economics and/or statistics or related fields; Experience: - The consultant should have at least 15 years of working experience in national accounts field. Experience on national accounts in the Caribbean region is required. - Specific and demonstrable competencies in understanding the approach of the International Comparison Program and its requirements on national accounts is required. Language: The candidate should be fluent in English.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.