The central bank´s function in the field of statistics:experience of the

The central bank’s function in the field of statistics:
experience of the Czech Republic during the transition period
Petr Vojtisek
Czech National Bank, Statistics Department
Na Prikope 28
115 03 Praha 1, Czech Republic
[email protected]
The Czech National Bank (CNB), the Ministry of Finance (MF) and the Czech Statistical
Office (CSO) are the main institutions in the Czech Republic conducting statistical activities. The
CNB is fully responsible for banking statistics and plays the major role in compiling the balance of
payments; the CSO provides trade balance data, but the CNB is responsible for other current
account items, the entire capital and financial accounts, and for drawing up the balance of payments
as a whole. The CNB also carries out some additional original statistical activities in the field of
economic development.
The statistical activities of the CNB are based on legal power incorporated into several
legislative acts. The banking statistics have full legal backing, as the reporting obligation of banks
to the CNB is incorporated into the Banking Act and the CNB is allowed to require such data. The
CNB is allowed to collect data from non-bank institutions for the balance of payments under the
existing Foreign Exchange Act. Without the Foreign Exchange Act, however, the legal grounding
incorporated into the CNB Act would be inadequate and would not provide the same level of
backing as for the banking statistics; some additional legal support would be necessary. Other
statistical activities are all based on the voluntary principle.
Statistics has always been one of the central bank’s activities, but during the nineties this
area has undergone enormous development, especially as regards automation. The system of data
collection and processing in the CNB has been heavily influenced by the development of
information technology. Until the early nineties, data were collected in paper form and stored as
statements received. In 1992, data from the banks were transferred electronically for the first time.
The original system used at that time has since been replaced. The present one consists of four subsystems: the “Metainformation System”, the “Electronic Data Interchange”, the “Information
Service” and the “Statistics-Accounting Database”.
The Metainformation System defines the data and their interrelationships, as well as
fundamental data on reporting entities, subject, dates, periodicity and method of reporting. It
contains basic information on what data are available and when, where and in what structures they
are stored, as well as on their current pre-processing status. This system also supports the
preparation process for individual reporting methodologies, generates these methodologies for
reporting entities, prepares transport structures for the reports, and in future will create basic output
structures from the database.
Electronic interchange of data is effected within the structures of UN/EDIFACT standards.
This means of communication makes it easier for reporting banks to create applications. The reports
are secured by encryption against misuse and confirmed by digital signature for sender
identification and prevention of modification of the report during transmission; they are also
secured by an AUTACK report, which prevents the possibility of acceptance of the report being
denied.
The Information Service at the CNB controls automated acceptance of reports, the procedure
for their processing and checking of banks’ fulfilment of their reporting obligation. Within these
fields of activity, it also effects, among other things, the formal and logical checking of reported
data and the checking of appropriate storage of these data in the database, and is responsible for
dispatching obligatory reports and reminders to reporting entities. In the opposite direction, i.e.
towards the CNB, this service provides information about the processing status of data received and
the status of reporting fulfilment.
The data received from banks are now stored in the Statistics-Accounting Database. This
database is the primary database for storing data and transferring them to the data warehouse, where
they are prepared in a structure enabling analytical work.
The data collected are stored in different databases because of spontaneous development in
the early nineties. Even the most comprehensive and highly developed Statistical Accounting
Database is only a primary database and is not fully convenient for analytical work. An additional
database has therefore been created in which both original data and data from the CSO (e.g. prices)
are stored in time series form, enabling the required data to be selected. The databases of
international institutions are stored in a common server accessible to the whole bank.
In both of the CNB’s main statistical activities – banking statistics and balance of payments
statistics – a raft of changes and improvements have been made to their volume and structure to
bring them closer to international standards; almost all areas of the banking statistics have been
broadened, the new financial instruments which have appeared in our country are being included in
the reporting system, a register of firms has been established for balance of payments purposes, etc.
Because of their nature, the monetary statistics differ in some respects from the balance of
payments statistics. The monetary statistics are based on the following principles:
• the reporting system is based on accounting data
• all banks are obliged to report data
• data are collected from the headquarters of banks
The balance of payments statistics come from the following sources:
• foreign trade data from the CSO (based on customs declarations)
• banking reporting of payments and receipts by transaction code
• direct reporting from the business sector (foreign direct investment) and the capital market
(portfolio investment),
• reporting obligations under the Foreign Exchange Act (selected items e.g. credits to/from nonresidents),
• ad hoc statistical surveys (e.g. cross-border movement),
• data from central institutions (e.g. foreign aid, employment of non-residents).
Developments in the field of statistics have been reflected in the organisational structure of
the CNB. At the beginning of the transition period, the CNB’s statistical activities were spread
across several departments. The natural solution was to concentrate them. This was done in several
steps and the whole process was completed last year. Methodology, data collection, storage and
presentation are now concentrated in the Statistics Department. This department is also responsible
for reporting to international institutions. The CNB sends data to IMF, OECD, BIS and
EUROSTAT. The Czech Republic joined SDDS on 1 January 1999.
RÉSUMÉ
La CNB est responsable des statistiques monétaires et de l’établissement final de la balance des
paiements. Les années passées, dans les deux domaines, il s’est déroulé un progrès important non seulement dans la méthodologie de données collectées, mais aussi dans l’automatisation de leur
collecte, emmagasinage et présentation. Dans le domaine de l’automatisation, il a été créé un
système comportant quatre parties. La première partie définie la méthodologie – les données, leurs
relations mutuelles et la structure de l’emmagasinage. La deuxième assure l’échange de données
sûr du point de vue électronique. La troisième dirige la réception automatisée de messages, leur
traitement et contrôle. La quatrième assure l’emmagasinage de donnés dans la base de données.
Les dernières années, l’introduction de nouveaux instruments financiers, la création des fichiers
des entreprises, la création de bases de donnés appropriées et la présentation de l’information
statistique aux autorités internationales appartiennent parmi les changements les plus marquants.
En comparaison avec les standards des pays développés, les statistiques, en ce qui concerne le
système, sont justement basées et pour cette raison il est possible de continuer à les développer.
Quant à l’organisation à la CNB, un trait caractéristique consiste à une concentration d’activités,
précédemment dispersées, dans une unité.