Meeting 25

Macroeconomic Statistics Liaison Group Meeting

Minutes

1. The Quarterly National and International Accounts for 2023Q4, along with the provisional 2023 results, were reviewed, following their publication on Friday 1st March 2024.
   While year-on-year growth rates for the full year 2023 showed a GDP fall of -3.2%, this result is largely driven by the activities of a small number of large MNEs, while many firms continue to show higher levels of activity year-on-year. Physical investment in the MNE sectors is ongoing, as is wage growth. While some MNE activity is lower post-COVID and due to offshoring and restructuring, over a four-to-five-year time horizon, there is still a strong upward trend. The experimental T+30 Frontier Release estimate was discussed, as was the LFS hours worked deflator for the PMOD dataset.
2. 2024 is a benchmark year – every five years, Eurostat coordinates harmonised benchmark revisions across the European Statistical System to incorporate new data sources and major methodological changes. This ensures maximum consistency within and between national accounts domains for the longest possible time series; across EU countries; and with Balance of Payments statistics. While the CSO policy is to revise annually, additional benchmark revisions will go through in 2024. Because other countries tend to revise less often than the CSO, cross country comparisons will be impacted by these benchmark revisions.
   The main areas for revision include self-employed mixed income work using Revenue Commissioners data; improvements to employment estimates; incorporating the latest Census, LFS and HBS data; GNI action points including improvements to Other Building and Construction data; aircraft leasing; GNI* growth rates and deflators, and improvements to International Accounts profits estimates arising from an improved survey grossing process.
3. The CSO has been developing an interactive R Shiny dashboard for analysing the Office’s economic outputs, with the intention is to eventually host it on the CSO website. The dashboard is intended to bridge the gap between CSO publications and data held in PxStat. MSLG members welcomed the initiative, and provided extremely helpful feedback both in advance of and during the meeting, much of which has already been taken on board.
4. The STS Enterprise section is reviewing the compilation of their short-term industry indicators – the Industrial Production and Turnover (IPT) and the Monthly Services Index (MSI) – and are seeking user feedback to help identify potential improvements to the data series. The team is focussed on working to create complementary measures to better aid users in interpreting these data. MSLG members will be contacted following the meeting to request participation in an ad hoc group to consult on potential improvements that would be of value to users. 
5. Kieran Culhane was introduced as the new Chair of the Macroeconomic Statistics Liaison Group, and Clare Sullivan as the new Secretary.