Consultant on Islamic Finance and National Accounts

Result of Service The main deliverable will be: 1) Introductory webinar; 2) One on-site mission to the country; 3) Follow-up by virtual meetings and emails; 4) A mission report on the recommendations on the implementation of the Guidance note on IFTT-FISIM calculation.

Work Location UN-House ESCWA

Expected duration 1 Months

Duties and Responsibilities The Islamic finance task team (IFTT) was established by the Inter-secretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA) and IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPCOM) in April 2020 as part of the current coordinated initiatives to update the 2008 SNA and BPM6. The IFTT aims to develop comprehensive and coherent recommendations to account for Islamic finance in the national accounts and external sector statistics. The IFTT research considered as the starting point the recommendations developed earlier by the Islamic finance task force (IFTF) which was formed by the Statistics Division of the Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) under the auspices of the ISWGNA to address the statistical treatment of Islamic finance in the national accounts.

The consultancy is managed by ESCWA, supported by UNSD, and GCC-Stat. ESCWA and GCC-Stat will make the necessary contact with the countries for the organization of the missions. The Consultant will arrange his/her own travels and accommodations. The working arrangements are expected to consist of electronic communications, webinar and mission on site.

Objectives

To provide technical assistance to Qatar Planning and Statistics Authority (PAS) -National Accounts Team, on the testing of the recommendations of the guidance note on Islamic Finance and National Accounts developed by the Islamic Finance Task team (IFTT)*, served by UNESCWA and UNSD, in the context of the System of National Accounts (SNA) update for 2025 and in cooperation with GCC-Stat based in Oman.

The specific objectives are: 1. To provide explanation of the recommendations of the IFTT to the team in Qatar working on the testing of the guidance note; 2. To review with the national team and relevant stakeholders the data sources and to assist on the use of the existing and new data sources from surveys and financial reports on Islamic Finance; 3. To write the mission report with the experimentation of the recommendations on the FISIM calculation in Islamic Finance and the results of the experimentation.

Qualifications/special skills A Bachelor's degree in statistics, national accounts, economics, finances, banking, or related field is required. A minimum of 5 years of experience in statistics, national accounts, economics, finances, banking, statistics and economics with good record of assistance to countries and writing reports is required.

Languages English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English and Arabic is required.

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.