2 Table of contents INTRODUCTION: THE ORIGIN, PREPARATION AND CONDUCT OF THIS REVIEW 5 CHAPTER 1: THE LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ARGENTINA’S STATISTICS 8 CHAPTER 2. STATISTICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 35 1. Introduction 35 2. Population, household and housing census, and population register 35 3. Statistical Population Register 40 4. International Standards and Classifications 41 5. Economic Census 45 6. Statistical Business Register 46 7. Census of Agriculture 49 CHAPTER 3. NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AND PUBLIC SECTOR DEBT STATISTICS 53 1. Introduction 53 2. Non-financial national accounts statistics 53 3. Financial national accounts statistics 66 4. Public Sector Debt statistics 68 5. Supply-and-use tables 72 CHAPTER 4. PRICE STATISTICS 75 1. Introduction 75 2. Consumer Price index and Producer Price Index 75 3. Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) 85 CHAPTER 5. STRUCTURAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC BUSINESS STATISTICS 86 1. Introduction 86 2. OECD data and metadata requirements for SDBS 86 3. Evaluation of SDBS data of Argentina 88 4. Overall assessment and recommendations 91 CHAPTER 6. INDICES OF PRODUCTION AND DEMAND - REAL INDICATORS 93 1. Introduction 93 2. OECD Data and Metadata Requirements for indices of production and demand 93 3. Evaluation of indices of production and demand of Argentina 95 4. Overall assessment and recommendations 98 CHAPTER 7. INTERNATIONAL TRADE BY COMMODITY STATISTICS (ITCS) AND TRADE BY ENTERPRISE CHARACTERISTICS (TEC) 100 1. International Trade by Commodity Statistics (ITCS) 100 2. Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) 106 CHAPTER 8. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN SERVICES STATISTICS 110 1. Introduction 110 2. OECD Data and Metadata Requirements for Balance of Payments Statistics and International Trade in Services Statistics 110 3. Evaluation of Argentina’s Balance of Payments Statistics 113 4. Overall Assessment, Main Findings and Recommendations for Balance of Payments Statistics117 5. Overall Assessment, Main Findings and Recommendations for International Trade in Services Statistics 117 CHAPTER 9. SHORT-TERM FINANCIAL STATISTICS 119 1. Introduction 119 3 2. Evaluation of Argentina’s short-term financial statistics 119 3. Overall assessment and recommendations 121 CHAPTER 10. LABOUR STATISTICS 122 1. Presentation of OECD requirements 122 2. Background on Argentinian statistics in this field 122 3. Evaluation of the availability, quality and comparability of Argentinian statistics 124 4. Overall assessment and recommendations 129 CHAPTER 11. INCOME DISTRIBUTION 131 1. Presentation of OECD requirements 131 2. Background on Argentinian statistics in this field 131 3. Evaluation of the availability, quality and comparability of Argentinian statistics 132 4. Overall assessment and recommendations 137 CHAPTER 12. WELL-BEING STATISTICS 139 1. Presentation of OECD requirements 139 2. A high-level evaluation of Argentinian statistics in this field 140 3. Overall assessment and recommendations 142 This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. 4 5 OECD ASSESSMENT OF THE STATISTICAL SYSTEM OF ARGENTINA AND KEY STATISTICS OF ARGENTINA INTRODUCTION: THE ORIGIN, PREPARATION AND CONDUCT OF THIS REVIEW 1. The OECD Secretariat and Argentina held informal talks in early 2016 concerning Argentina’s membership in the G20 and interest in the Organisation. In April of that year, the OECD’s Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy (CSSP) agreed to add Argentina to its Participation Plan as an Invitee, both for the Committee itself and its working parties. 2. Shortly afterwards, on 30 June 2016, Argentina’s then Minister of Treasury and Public Finance, Alfonso Prat-Gay, wrote to the OECD Secretary General expressing his country’s willingness to adhere to the Recommendation of the Council on Good Statistical Practice (herein, CRGSP, C(2015)128) adopted in November 2015. In response, the CSSP agreed, via written procedure on 30 July 2016, on the following process: i. Conduct a preliminary review to allow the CSSP to form a judgement whether Argentina is fully committed to putting in place a sound statistical system, in line with the Council Recommendation. ii. Conditional on the CSSP expressing a positive opinion on Argentina’s adherence to the Council Recommendation on the basis of the preliminary review, consider a full review of Argentina’s statistical system, in line with the well-established model used in the context of accession to the OECD. Such a full review would enable the CSSP to monitor progress towards the implementation of the Council Recommendation with respect to the statistical law and across the full range of OECD statistical domains. 3. Pursuant to 2.i above, the OECD Secretariat carried out a preliminary review between late 2016 and March 2017. The full text of its assessment is available as document STD/CSSP(2017)7/ANN1. It provided an initial evaluation of the prevailing institutional arrangements and of the quality and international comparability of Argentinean statistics in a limited number of statistical subject domains, assessing their degree of conformity with OECD standards in terms of coverage, compliance, timeliness, availability and metadata. Specifically, it addressed Argentina’s i. Legal and institutional framework for official statistics (LIF) ii. National accounts (including public sector debt) iii. Consumer price indices iv. International Trade in Goods 4. Based on the preliminary review, the CSSP at its meeting in June 2017 expressed a positive opinion as to Argentina’s adherence to the OECD Council Recommendation, and recommended proceeding with the full review foreshadowed in 2.ii above. The Chair of the CSSP, Mr Konrad Pesendorfer, conveyed this advice to the Director-General of Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Census (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos – INDEC), Jorge Todesca, on 5 July 2017. After approval of the adherence by the OECD’s External Relations Committee, the OECD Secretary-General wrote to the new Minister of Treasury and Public Finance, Nicolás Dujovne, on 10 August 2017 declaring Argentina to be an Adherent and adding that “We look forward to supporting further your government in progressing towards a high-quality, institutionally solid and independent statistical system.” 6 5. Over the following months, the OECD Secretariat worked to design a detailed programme for the full review recommended by the CSSP, and a draft was presented to Mr Todesca in November 2017. After some further discussions, the programme for the review was agreed in January 2018. It provides for an assessment of three central aspects of the Argentinian statistical system and statistics, namely: i. The legal and institutional framework for official statistics ii. The statistical infrastructure, including Population and Housing Census, Agricultural Census, Economic Census, Business Register, Labour Force Surveys and Household Surveys, Enterprise surveys, International standards and classifications; and iii. The quality and comparability of data in the following OECD core subject matter domains: 1. National Accounts 2. Population Statistics 3. Business Statistics 4. Financial Statistics 5. International Trade in Goods and Services 6. Price Statistics and Purchasing Power Parities 7. Balance of Payments 8. Short-term Labour and Labour Compensation Statistics 9. Indexes of Production and Demand 10. Short-term Financial Statistics 11. Business Tendency and Consumer Opinion Surveys 12. Statistics on well-being and measuring progress. 6. The agreement on the review allowed that the final coverage of component (iii) might differ from the items listed above once the data domains and the producers of official statistics in Argentina were identified. 7. Arrangements for the review were further discussed in the margins of a visit to Buenos Aires in January 2018 by the Director of the OECD Statistics and Data Directorate (SDD), Martine Durand, in which she participated in the 50th anniversary celebrations of the foundation of INDEC. An OECD Study Team was then formed under the guidance of SDD Deputy Director Paul Schreyer. It consisted of five SDD staff, viz. Simon Scott, Counsellor; Nadim Ahmad, Head, Trade and Competitiveness Statistics Division; Marco Mira d’Ercole, Head, Household Statistics and Progress Measurement Division; Jorrit Zwijnenburg, Head of Section, National Accounts Division; and Julien Dupont, Analyst/Statistician, Global Relations. INDEC nominated Mr Pedro Lines, then its National Director for International Accounts and later its Technical Director, to co-ordinate the review for Argentina. 8. The Study Team developed questionnaires covering all aspects of the review and sent these to INDEC in February for completion and return by 30 June 2018. In the meantime, Study Team undertook a mission to Buenos Aires from 16 to 20 April 2018. This provided the opportunity for staff from INDEC and other entities of Argentina’s national statistical system to make presentations and exchange information with the Team before responding to the questionnaires. 9. This report is based mainly on questionnaire responses provided in July 2018, subsequent discussions and clarifications thereof, draft chapters submitted to INDEC for comment in February 2019, 7 and a further mission by Messrs Scott and Dupont in May 2019. It has been checked for accuracy by the Argentinian