First meeting of the Productive Capacities Index (PCI) Statistical and Technical Task Team

Statistical, methodological and emerging issues and the way forward

The Productive Capacities Index (PCI) is aimed at supporting developing countries in understanding the status of their productive capacities, the gaps and limitations thereof and how they can be improved.

The Index is based on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s three-pillar conceptualization of productive capacities as the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that, together, determine a country's ability to produce goods and services that enable it to grow and develop.

The PCI was developed in response to the request by member States at the UNCTAD XIV Conference in Nairobi (the Nairobi Maafikiano Paragraph 76k) and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (E/RES/2017/29).

The Index was peer-reviewed and validated at national and regional levels by leading technical experts across the United Nations system, as well as by academics and government stakeholders.

It has also been enhanced by the inclusion of productive capacities in the Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs and the Vienna Programme of Action for LLDCs, as well as in the newly adopted Doha Programme of Action for LDCs as an important tool to address the development challenges of these groups of countries.

UNCTAD seeks the guidance of the PCI Statistical and Technical Task Team to facilitate the process of:

1. Broadening the dimensions and the incorporating of new factors and elements;
2. Examining and proposing potential indicators for the new dimensions; and
3. Adjusting the methodology and addressing the questions pertinent to the process.

The Statistical and Technical Task Team is invited to review adjustments to the PCI methodology, ensuring the integrity and consistency of the PCI with its analytical framework and policy-oriented objectives.