The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 7 attended the simultaneous virtual workshop/training on data to accounts for Regional Statistical Services Office (RSSO) and Provincial Statistical Office (PSO) staff in three pilot regions of Provincial Product Accounts (PPA) on 26 to 28 May 2021 at Golden Prince Hotel, Cebu City. Participants in the said workshop were seven personnel from RSSO 7 that includes the two COSWS, and the Chief Statistical Specialist (CSS), focal person and hired COSW from each of the provinces.

The objectives of the workshop are the following: 1.) Be able to understand the basic concepts of the System of National Accounts (SNA), basis for the compilation of PPA; 2.) Be aware of the data that should be included in the Accounts and appreciate the underlying reasons of all other data that were collected; and 3.) Be able to analyze and organize the data at hand.

Discussed during the workshop were the 2018 Census of Philippine Business and Industry (2018 CPBI), 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (2018 FIES), 2018 to 2020 Agriculture Statistics and data sources for benchmark and non-benchmark years that will be used for the compilation of PPA. Furthermore, the discussion did not focus only on the processing and organizing of data in one database, but on how it is applied in the estimation of PPA. After the discussion, there were hands-on exercises and four (4) break-out sessions were made which was facilitated by a focal person from Central Office (CO). The focal person for Central Visayas is Ms. Libertie Masculino.

The data estimation for the three pilot regions will start on June 2021. With this data to accounts workshop, the technical staff of the regional offices and the provincial offices understands better on how different data sets are used in the national accounts and how this provides a picture of the economy at the provincial and regional level.