Price Statistics Advisor

Contract

This is a IPSA-10 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Personnel Services Agreement. It is normally internationally recruited only. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about IPSA-10 contracts.

Background

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

Travel:

a) UNDP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and excludes working from home arrangements.

b) Any official travel expected to be associated with performing the functions will be paid by UNDP subject to prior authorization by the supervisor. The airfairs and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will be determined by the UNDP’s travel policies and guidelines.

Office/Unit/Project Description

Saudi Arabia has realized and sustained, for the last four decades, remarkable progress along the socio-economic development path. It has been an epic socio-economic development in which all sectors of the economy contributed and benefited. As a result of this, the Kingdom has been able to move from an underdeveloped status to a high-income country with all the means of a promising and sustainable future.

The GDP, for instance, increased from SR 156 billion in 1969 to SR 2, 631 billion in 2018, putting the economy among the top 20 global economies in terms of size. This is cogent evidence of the socio-economic advancement taken place in all sectors. Based on the annual ranking of the Human Development Index (HDI) of the Human Development Report, Saudi Arabia has steadily moved from the middle-income category in the 1990s to the very high-income category in 2018 at 0.857 value of HDI.

The Saudi Vision 2030 represents an ambitious resolve with long-term goals and expectations founded on the strengths and capabilities of the Kingdom. It covers the three themes of a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation. A thorough review of the three themes and their underlying issues of national concern would reveal a holistic approach to development that encompasses the three dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the social, the economic and the environmental. Saudi Arabia recognizes that achieving the SDGs requires rigorous, instant and continuous monitoring for which quality statistics is a must. The General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) has gone through a major revision of its corporate strategy and vision in alignment with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the SDGs. The revised strategy revolves around five pillars:

• Usage of statistics and information

• Production of statistics and information

• Application of advanced technologies in collecting and analyzing datasets

• Communications and awareness towards statistical knowledge

• Governance of statistical sector

Under the Institutional Support to Statistics project framework, UNDP provides technical support to the GaStat to strengthen the institutional and human capacities of the national statistical system for evidence-based development planning and policy-making.

The purpose of the assignment is to provide technical expertise to GaStat in processing, calculating, and publishing price statistics for certain products, including producer price index-construction price index- import and export price index to support the establishment of robust economic statistics.

Institutional Arrangement

The duty station for the Price Statistics Advisor is Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. S/He will be embedded within the National Accounts Department at the General Authority for Statistics. She/he will be supervised by the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) and work in close collaboration with the General Manager for the Price Statistics Department.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The Price Statistics Advisor will provide substantive technical and capacity development support to GaStat, particularly the production of price statistics and instating systematic procedures for their production. The Price Statistics Advisor will deliver duties and responsibilities in the following areas:

Technical assistance to the production of price indices:

• Develop/ review the methodology for the following products (producer price index-construction price index- import and export price index) and calculate the price indices for the four products
• Provide advice on the data collected from the field or administrative source, identify additional data sources and review data collection questionnaires;
• Determine represented items and assign the relative weight;
• Guide the development of a framework for price statistics to explain the links between various price indices and between price indices and other relevant economic statistics;
• Design the tables and prepare reports;
• Calculate price index by using Laspeyre formula;
• Create a program to calculate the index;
• Review results and align it with computer outputs;
• Undertake other relevant duties required to achieve the overall assignment's objectives.

Capacity Development

• Work directly with the relevant departments and provide coaching and on-the-job-training for staff;
• Document the processes and methods for computing the indices and train the relevant GaStat's team in data processing, cleaning, and calculating the price indices, including the re-basing methodology.

Reporting:

• A detailed quarterly work plan for duties to be formulated in consultations with the General Manager for the Price Statistics Department and the CTA. The work plan should show alignment to the Institutional Support to Statistics Project;
• The Advisor will submit to his/her supervisors a monthly report on progress made against the tasks and responsibilities of the TORs;
• The Advisor will submit a quarterly progress report against the work plan to UNDP and the National Project Manager (NPM).

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
• Display cultural, gender, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and to work under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish strong cooperative relationships with senior government officials.

Skills:

• Sound quantitative analytical skill in economics, econometrics, statistical analysis;
• Familiarity with large-scale economic database and national surveys;
• Good understanding and practice of capacity development.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Master’s degree in Economics, or Econometrics, or Economic statistics, or a related subject. Bachelor’s degree in above disciplines with 2 additional years of relevant working experience may be accepted in lieu of Master’s Degree.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

5 years of relevant working experience with Master’s degree or 7 years of relevant working experience with Bachelor’s degree with government institutions, academic and research institutions and/or international organizations in areas of economic data analysis and producing price indices, including experience in publishing national statistics.

Desired additional skills and competencies

Knowledge of the relevant price index manuals and the System of National Accounts is highly desirable;

Knowledge and experience of working with constituents in the Arab States, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is desirable.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Excellent command of English, working knowledge of Arabic would be considered an asset.