“The System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) is a statistical framework that provides a comprehensive, consistent and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts for policy making, analysis and research purposes. It has been produced and is released under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. It represents an update, mandated by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2003, of the System of National Accounts, 1993, which was produced under the joint responsibility of the same five organizations. Like earlier editions, the 2008 SNA reflects the evolving needs of its users, new developments in the economic environment and advances in methodological research”.
The National Accounts of Guyana’s economy is compiled using the SNA 1993, which is subdivided into twenty-three sub-industries and classified using the (ISIC REV.4). Two of the most well-known variables produced by these accounts, and perhaps the two most requested by the public, are Gross Domestic Product and Per Capita Income.
GDP measures the productive activity taking place within the domestic economy, that is , it measures all the goods and services produced in the economy during a specified period of time (a year in this case). The GDP is the single, most widely used indicator of economic performance.
Guyana launched its rebased and revised series of national accounts in February 2010, with a new base year of 2006 for constant GDP and with current GDP revised back to 2006. In revising its national accounts, Guyana adopted System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA 1993) recommendations, moving forward from the practices of SNA 1968. In 2018 Guyana commenced another rebasing exercise which will see Guyana moving to a new base year of 2012, this process is expected to be completed soon.
