Objectives and concepts of the Macroeconomics subsystem

The "Macroeconomics" subsystem aims to provide information on changes in the main macroeconomic aggregates of the ECOAGRIS member countries, and in particular to monitor changes in macroeconomic aggregates of agricultural production in the broad sense, including crop production, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and forestry.

Objectives and concepts of the Macroeconomics subsystem

• GROSS Domestic Product (GDP): Gross domestic product consists of gross domestic production plus the value added of the non-market sector, conventionally valued by the personnel costs of public administration and domestic services. It is therefore the wealth created by the economy over the course of a year.
• REAL AND NOMINAL GDP: Real GDP (or in volume or at constant prices) is the value of GDP taking into account price variations, i.e. inflation. Real GDP has the advantage of measuring only upward and downward changes in the volume (quantities) of goods and services produced. Indeed, by observing only GDP in value (or nominal or at current prices), we cannot determine whether the increase in this indicator comes from an increase in prices, an increase in production or in what proportions these two variations combine.
• Inflation rate: the percentage increase or decrease in the price of goods and services over a given period.
• Imports: imports include all goods entering the territory definitively, valued at their Cost Insurance Frieght (CIF) value.
• Exports: exports include all new or existing goods leaving the territory definitively; they are valued at their Free On Board (FOB) value.
• Public expenditure: This corresponds to general government expenditure, i.e. expenditure by the State and various central government bodies, local public administrations and social security administrations.
• Public investment: Public investment refers to government spending on economic infrastructure such as airports, roads, railways, water and sanitation networks, electricity and gas utilities, telecommunications and social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and prisons (IMF, 2015).
• Budget: Act by which the annual income and expenditure of the State or other services subject to the same rules are foreseen and authorised.
• Trade balance: an account that tracks the value of exported goods and the value of imported goods. To calculate the trade balance, the national accounts evaluate imports and exports of goods on the basis of customs statistics on goods.
• Poverty rate: The poverty rate is the proportion of people whose income is below the poverty line, i.e. half of the median income of the total population.
• Budget: an account that tracks the value of exported goods and the value of imported goods. To calculate the trade balance, the national accounts.

Process and scheme for collecting and processing data for the "Macroeconomics" subsystem

In general, all the indicators retained in the "Macroeconomics" subsystem of the ECOAGRIS system are already regularly and generally annually monitored by the Ministries in charge of economic and financial issues, in particular through the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) or similar bodies in charge of economic statistics and the sectorial ministries in the field of agriculture in the broad sense as defined above. At the end of each year, the collection sheets should be shared with the relevant national statistical offices and sectorial ministries.

The main outputs of the indicators of this subsystem will be figures and percentages. In particular, monetary values should be expressed in US dollars (US$) in order to facilitate regional comparison and consolidation.