The OECD organised its first workshop on business statistics on 13 March in Kyiv, Ukraine, focused on definitions and methods for producing entrepreneurship and structural SME statistics. The workshop was held in the framework of the EU-funded project on ‘Improving SME Statistics in Ukraine’, part of the EU4Business: From Policies to Action programme, implemented by the OECD.
The purpose of the workshop was to share international standards and discuss definitions and methods for producing entrepreneurship and SME statistics. The OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme was used as a reference framework for the development of policy-relevant and internationally-comparable indicators of entrepreneurship.
The workshop was attended by key stakeholders involved in the production and use of business statistics, including the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Cabinet of Ministers, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine, as well as the EU Delegation, the Forbiz Ukraine team, and representatives from the policy research community.
Participants heard from OECD experts about the importance of measuring SME performance for policy design, key variables of interest for statistical analysis, and examples of cross-country analysis. They were also introduced to definitions and methodologies to produce business demographic indicators.
The workshop also highlighted new approaches for statistical data production, in particular through linking datasets. OECD experts presented business indicators based on linked data and showcased the example of the OECD Trade by Enterprise Characteristics database. Workshop participants discussed the availability of relevant indicators to monitor the SME sector performance in Ukraine, as well as the underlying methodological nuances for data production.
The need to enhance the quality of SME statistics has been highlighted by the latest Small Business Act for Europe (SBA) assessment as a main priority to improve the institutional framework for SME support in Ukraine. Building on this finding, the project aims to promote the implementation of an established methodology to compile key indicators of business statistics that are internationally comparable, and increase capacity among Ukrainian policymakers to collect, harmonise, analyse, publish and disseminate official information measuring the performance of the SME sector in Ukraine.