The Namibia National Accounts estimates are compiled in accordance to the international standards, the 1993 SNA. The UN statistics Commission in 2008 has approved a new System of National Accounts compilation, the 2008 SNA. Appropriate measures at global level are still being put in place for the 2008 SNA implementation.
The National Accounts are produced bi-annually and is revised for the latest three years. Major revisions for back years such as correcting of errors and altering the economic structure to reflect current economic situations is filtered in but at longer intervals.
The Preliminary National Accounts are produced during April of each year, while the Annual National Accounts are published in September of each year. According to the latest publication the Namibian economy in 2010 has recorded a robust growth of 6.6 percent.
The Namibia Statistics Agency also produces the Quarterly National Accounts that is released with a quarterly lag after the reference period. The quarterly GDP measures the short term movement of the economy. The GDP growth for the third quarter of 2011 is 6.2 percent when compared to the same quarter of 2010.
The National Accounts helps economist to measure the level of economic development and the rate of economic growth, change in consumption, savings, investment, debts and wealth.
With the data from the National Accounts, users can either forecast the future growth of the economy or study the impacts on the economy and its sectors of alternative government policies.
System of National (SNA) integrates a range of economic and related statistics in a system that is based on consistent economic and statistical concepts and methods. As such, it allows domestic and international comparative analysis.
