This Thursday, October 6, the last day of the annual Seminar on National Accounts for Latin America and the Caribbean was held, organized by the Statistics Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). On the occasion, the regional panorama in terms of national statistical measurements was addressed and the main results and experiences associated with the challenges currently facing the statistical systems of Latin America and the Caribbean were known.
Within this framework, the Productive and Business Development Division of ECLAC presented the main regional GDP results, at the subnational level, in 11 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay). The presentation was given by Felipe Correa, an official of this Division, who pointed out that this work and analysis is based on the growing importance of observing territorial heterogeneities in the countries of the region.
The subnational level of the countries is that which, in geographical and administrative matters, corresponds to the first level of subnational government: departments, regions, states, provinces, etc. (depending on the nomenclature of each country). He also stated that the time series on which it was possible to construct subnational GDP figures for the 11 countries covers the period between 2007 and 2019. These 11 countries represent, in turn, 90% of the GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean and 80% of its population.
To carry out the analysis, data was collected from subnational accounts published by the statistical entities and central banks of the countries analyzed, these same organizations also preparing the information at the national level (with the exception of Uruguay).
The official pointed out that, when analyzing the compiled series, it is observed that in the period from 2007 to 2019, the regions with the lowest GDP per capita as of 2007 had a higher growth rate compared to the regions with the highest GDP per capita. This would indicate, in turn, that in the analyzed period there was a convergence between the subnational regions of Latin America.
Likewise, among all the subnational territories of 11 countries, it is possible to point out that the level of inequality or variation of GDP per capita has been reducing between 2007 and 2019 years, this being in accordance with the observed convergence. Some possible explanations advanced by the researcher correspond to variations experienced by the super cycle of the prices of raw materials and migratory phenomena.
Finally, some challenges for the development of subnational accounts in Latin America and the Caribbean were identified. The first of these aims for countries that do not have this system to develop it, since so far only 11 countries in the region have this type of statistics. Second, it was pointed out that the countries that do develop subnational accounts systems face the challenge of constantly updating their figures, as well as working on a greater opening of their economic activities and considering the variation in prices at the subnational level, way of being able to construct series that take into account the variation in productivity at constant prices.
Finally, it was mentioned that the subnational statistics compilation project has been carried out with the important collaboration of Misael Díaz, consultant of the Statistics Division, and Federico Dorín and María Paz Collinao, officials of the same Division. It is also expected that the data will soon be available on the CEPALSTAT website, as well as a detailed study with the characterization of the statistics of subnational accounts for the countries studied.
