MEFMI Conducts Mission on International Trade in Services Statistics for Rwanda 

MEFMI conducted a mission to Rwanda on international trade in services during the period 10 to 14 December 2018 in Kigali. The mission was conducted for the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), in partnership with the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR). The mission was attended by fourteen officials from the two institutions. In terms of gender participation, there were twelve (12) males and two (2) females, translating into 86% and 14% male and female representation, respectively. The mission was facilitated by Ms Vivian Namugambe, MEFMI Programme Manager; and Dr Kenneth Egesa, regional Balance of Payments (BOP) expert.

Rwanda is one of the countries[1] in the MEFMI region that have embarked on conducting surveys on international trade in services as an alternative data source to the international transaction reporting system (ITRS).  Having conducted the surveys for three consecutive years and gathered enough data points to make an analysis of the trends, Rwanda is now considering revising their BOP statistics to take into account the survey data. It is against this background that they requested a technical assistance mission from MEFMI to carry out an assessment of the data before incorporation into their BOP.

The primary objective of the mission was to conduct an assessment of the survey data for selected services categories for comprehensiveness and accuracy. As a secondary objective, the mission conducted some basic training on concepts regarding recording and compilation for the benefit of some officials who were relatively new in the institutions.

As a key output, the mission reviewed the survey data and delivered recommendations for consideration by NISR and BNR before incorporation of the data into the BOP.  The assessment was done on the following services categories; passenger and freight transport, travel, manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others, maintenance and repair services, construction, insurance, telecommunication, computer and information services. The assessment followed three aspects – questionnaire design with emphasis on compliance to the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual sixth edition (BPM6); second, assessment of the coverage of the survey sample to ensure minimal non-sampling errors; and third, a review of the data quality with emphasis on the response rate, data gaps, and possible data errors.

The mission found most of the survey questionnaires to be largely consistent with the BPM6, and proposed some improvements in the design of some, where necessary. The mission noted some non-responses for some surveys and discussed some of the uprating methodologies that could be used to make estimates for non-response. The mission also extended recommendations on the sample selection approach to be used subsequently for some surveys, and noted the need for follow up to boost response rate.  The mission also identified probable data errors and recommended data cleaning and validation of the survey responses through follow up with the respondents before incorporating the data in the BOP.

As a way forward, Mr. Ivan Murenzi, the Deputy Director General NISR welcomed the observations made by the mission and indicated the Institute’s resolve to implement the resultant recommendations to the extent possible.  MEFMI commends the efforts by NISR and BNR in the adoption of surveys as a data source for compilation of trade in services statistics. Strengthening capacity in the compilation of trade in services statistics is one of the key focus areas in the MEFMI Phase V (2017-2021) Plan as the Institute implements its strategic objective of improved quality macroeconomic statistics in the region. Therefore, MEFMI stands readily available to conduct similar customised capacity building interventions on trade in services for its member countries, as well as extend consultancy services in this area for non-member countries, when called upon.

[1]   Other MEFMI countries conducting trade in services surveys include Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.