A Model to Estimate the Composite Index of Economic Activity in Romania – IEF-RO

One of the most significant impediments for short-term forecasts is the frequency of publishing GDP. At present, national institutes of statistics are publishing officially registered GDP only quarterly. In our study, we tried to build a composite indicator based on usually monthly data and to use it in order to obtain short-term forecasts for economic activity at national level. This indicator could be useful taking into account that actually there is no synthetic indicator to describe the short-run dynamics of economic activity. Thus, such an estimating model we are proposing for the Romanian economy is coming from the last results in this field, especially from the OECD methodology. Moreover, to validate the main hypotheses of the estimating model for the composite indicator in the case of the Romanian economy we used the quarterly data and, as benchmark indicator was considered the quarterly published GDP. Using certain models based on composite indicators (leading indicators, coincidence indicators, and post-cycle indicators), beside other models to analyse high frequency time series and to obtain sort-term forecasts (such as principal component method, so-called virtual monthly GDP method or various interpolating methods), it can result in richer information for the business environment which in modern times founds itself in an accelerated process of change.

Keywords: business cycle indicators, coincident and leading indicators, composite index
JEL Classification: C22, C63, E20, E32