Some Obscurities in Indonesia's New National Accounts

Abstract

Indonesia's national accounts are subject to regular revisions. Some of these revisions have resulted in different estimates of GDP on both the output and the expenditure side of the economy in overlapping years. Unfortunately, the explanations accompanying the published national accounts make it difficult to understand the exact reasons why this is so. This article explores the possible explanations. It also discusses the consequences of changes to the base year used in the calculation of constant price series. The paper draws attention to several new national accounting initiatives developed at Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency that underscore the Agency's advanced professionalism in national accounting. It concludes with a call for greater openness in explaining national accounting procedures.

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Notes on contributors

Pierre van der Eng

A longer version of this article was published as Institute of Economic Research Discussion Paper – D98–9, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, August 1998.