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G 87-3 Contact: B. Jay Cooper COMMERCE SECRETARY ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN SCHEDULE FOR RELEASE OF TRADE AND GNP REPORTS (202) 377-2067 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige today announced that the Commerce Department will improve the accuracy of its monthly merchandise trade and gross national product reports by changing its schedule of reporting the statistics. "Beginning with data for the month of February, the department will issue its merchandise trade report between 40 and 45 days after the end of the month," Baldrige said. "This report w i l l replace the statistical month and revised statistical m o n t h ’ s reports." Baldrige said trade data for the month cf February will be released April 14. He said there will be no revised figura for February or for any subsecuen t mens h. J a n u a r y ’s preliminar;' estimate will be reported Feb. 27 and r evised A d t í I 1¿ to be consistent with data for later months. According to Baldrige, C o m m e r c e ’s Census Bureau and the U.S. Customs Service have cooperated to make the change possible. "During the past two years, they have been able to reduce the m p e r t carryover figure fc r n*umbers rei £ a s e d 30 days after the end of :r.e nor. t n iron c•; cercen • to 20 percent out that is still not accurate e n o u g h ,n Ealcrice S 3 1 l . 1'The only prac ical way to reduce that figure nov to an acceotab ’ 2 lev el is to allow the Customs Service more time to process its documents. The Customs Service assures us that this extra time will virtuallv eliminate carrvcver.” Baldrige said the trade report released under the new schedule will be as accurate as the revised number now released 60 days after the end of a month. Baldrige said Commerce's preliminar;-- and first revised estimates of the nation's gross national product (GNP) will be delayed about three days to include accurate trade data. t -no r e - "By delaying the GNP reports an average of about three days, we can include accurate trade data a month sooner," Baldrige said. "At the sane time, we can include an additional month's reports for the producer price index and housing starts. These changes will result in better GNP estimates," he said. Baldrige added that with the changes, Commerce will still issue its preliminary GNP reports about three weeks after the end of a quarter, much sooner than any other major industrial country. New schedules for the release of merchandise trade and GNP statistics follow. # 2 /1 0 /8 7 ATTACHMENT N e w R e l e a s e D a t e s for M e r c h a n d i s e Trade and GNP Merchandise Trade Month Release date February March April May June July August September October November December April 14. Tuesday May 14, Thursday June 12, Friday July 15, Wednesday August 14, Friday September 11, Friday October 14. Wednesday November 12, Thursday December 10. Thursday January 15 (1988), Friday February 12 (1988), Friday G NP E s timate R e l e ase date +15. +45 , + 15. + 45. + 15. + 45. April 23, Thursday M a y 22, Friday J u l y 24, Friday A u g u s t 21, Friday O c t o b e r 23. Friday N o v e m b e r 24. Tuesday 01 01 OH OH QUI QUI
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