To understand how different sectors in an economy interact with each other, economy-wide analyses, such as the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, are often required. The database of a CGE model is usually the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), which is designed to capture the micro and macroeconomic structure of the economy. A SAM provides a snapshot of the economy by showing the circular flow of income and expenditure, usually for a given year. It also sheds light on the activities of different economic agents by describing the interrelationships between firms, farms, households, investors, and the external sector. While a SAM is usually constructed for a country as a whole, it can also be constructed at the sub-national level in cases in which a state or region is the focus. A national SAM can also include disaggregated sub-national economic activities and can be organized geographically according to a country’s administrative or economic regions. The level of regional and sectoral disaggregation in a SAM depends on its purpose and the availability of data. The 2006 Nigeria SAM was built for the dynamic CGE (DCGE) model that examined the agriculture growth and investment options for reducing poverty in Nigeria. This report provides a detailed description of this SAM, while the DCGE analysis using the SAM can be found in Diao et al. (2010). In the next section, the overall structure of the SAM and its components are presented following the SAM’s technical guide by Breisinger, Thomas, and Thurlow (2009). Next, a detailed discussion of the 2006 Nigeria SAM accounts is provided. The SAM is contained in the Excel file that accompanies this report.
by Manson Nwafor, Xinshen Diao, and Vida Alpuerto
