Measuring the Importance of Sectors with Social Accounting Matrix Aproach

Input-Output table is a framework for investigating the intersectoral relationships. It also shows the linkage between different sectors from selling & buying point of view. In this framework, intermediate transactions are the main criteria for the measurement of linkages on the basis of which key sectors can be identified.This paper demonstrates that this type of assessment is necessary, but not sufficient. The sufficient pre-requisite is that in addition to intermediate transaction, income and expenditure have to be considered simultaneously in measuring sectoral importance. Application of social accounting matrix, not only satisfies the sufficient pre-requisite in evaluating sectoral importance, but also offers more flexibility in assessment compared to the standard input-output approach.The results based on the Input-Output approach and Social Accounting Matrix approach reveal the importance of service sectors in social accounting matrix approach framework, whereas non-service sectors appear outstanding in input-output approach framework.