Building a Social Accounting Matrix for Myanmar: Hands-on experience workshop

With support from the Danish Embassy in Myanmar and as a part of the research collaboration between the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) in Myanmar and UNU-WIDER, policymakers and officials from the CSO joined Dirk Van Seventer and the team at DERG for a two-week, hands-on workshop to develop a prototype SAM for Myanmar.

Six Myanmar collaborators, including staff from the CSO, the Ministry of Planning and Finance, and the Department of Labour attended the workshop. The event was an extension of an economy-wide impact analysis training which took place in Myanmar in May 2019.

Using additional features, participants focused on price and supply constraints and undertook both descriptive and multiplier analyses using the newly developed models. During the workshop, existing data was carefully reviewed and used to develop a prototype 2015 SAM. Participants were also introduced to Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling, training that will be further enhanced throughout 2020. Furthermore, a fully developed 2017 SAM with new and updated data was planned for the end of 2019.