Accounting for the Ocean Economy Using the System of National Accounts

The increasing importance to measure the ocean economy cannot be discounted. A number of countries attempted to measure the ocean economy based on their needs and perceptions. At this point, however, there is no agreed scope and coverage of the ocean economy nor is there an agreed operational definition of the variables needed for its measurement. Moreover, there is no internationally endorsed framework that will guide and lead to comparable estimates across countries or regions. Utilizing the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) as a framework, this paper endeavors to estimate the contribution of the ocean economy in the Philippines using the present Philippine System of National Accounts (PSNA) and taking into consideration the agreement in the Inception Workshop on the Blue Economy Assessment held last 28-30 July 2015 in Manila on the initial list of sectors relevant to the ocean economy. The current PSNA has adopted the 2008 SNA in May 2011 and has incorporated estimates of the “unorganized sector”, which is an approximation of the informal sector in the Philippine economy. The paper also explores the possibility of utilizing the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) and the Experimental Ecosystem Approach being done in the Philippines to complement the existing national accounts estimates. Key words and Phrases: ocean economy, system of national accounts, industrial classification, unorganized sector, environmental accounting, ecosystem