Enterprise Survey of Micro Firms 2023
Central African Republic, 2023
Get MicrodataIdentification
CAF_2023_ESM_v01_M
Enterprise Survey of Micro Firms 2023
ESM 2022
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Central African Republic | CAF |
Enterprise Survey [en/oth]
The Enterprise Survey of Micro Firms (ESM) collect both objective data based on firms’ day-to-day experiences and perceptions of enterprises regarding the business environment in which they operate. The primary objectives of the ESM are to: i) understand the demographics of the micro-enterprises in the covered cities, ii) describe the environment within which these enterprises operate, and iii) enable data analysis based on the samples that are representative at each city level.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Firms
Scope
The 2023 Central African Republic Enterprise Survey of Micro Firms covered the following topics:
- General information of a firm
- Infrastructure and services
- Sales and supplies
- Business practices
- Degree of competition
- Capacity
- Land and permits
- Crime
- Finance
- Business-Government relations
- Labor
- Business environment
- Performance
Coverage
National coverage
The universe of inference includes all formal (i.e., registered) private sector businesses (with at least 1% private ownership) and with less than five employees. In terms of sectoral criteria, all manufacturing businesses (ISIC Rev 4. codes 10-33) are eligible; for services businesses, those corresponding to the ISIC Rev 4 codes 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55-56, 58, 61-62, 69-75, 79, and 95 are included in the Enterprise Surveys. Cooperatives and collectives are excluded from the Enterprise Surveys. All eligible establishments must be registered with the registration agency. In terms of sectoral criteria, all manufacturing businesses (ISIC Rev 4. codes 10-33) are eligible; for services businesses, those corresponding to the ISIC Rev 4 codes 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55-56, 58, 61-62, 69-75, 79, and 95 are included in the Enterprise Surveys. Cooperatives and collectives are excluded from the Enterprise Surveys. All eligible establishments must be registered with the registration agency. In the case of the Central African Republic, registration was from the Guichet Unique de formalité des Entreprises (GUFE).
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank Group (WBG) |
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| World Bank Group | WBG |
Sampling
The ESM use stratified random sampling, where the population of establishments is first separated into non-overlapping groups, called strata, and then respondents are selected through simple random sampling from each stratum. The detailed methodology is provided in the Sampling Note (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Sampling_Note-Consolidated-2-16-22.pdf). Stratified random sampling has several advantages over simple random sampling. In particular, it:
- produces unbiased estimates of the whole population or universe of inference, as well as at the levels of stratification;
- ensures representativeness by including observations in all of those categories;
- produces more precise estimates for a given sample size or budget allocation, and
- may reduce implementation costs by splitting the population into convenient subdivisions.
The ESM typically use three levels of stratification: industry classification, establishment size, and subnational region (used in combination). Starting in 2022, the ESM bases the industry classification on ISIC Rev. 4 (with earlier surveys using ISIC Rev. 3.1). For regional coverage within a country, the ESM has national coverage.
Note: Refer to Sampling Structure section in "The Central African Republic 2023 Micro, Enterprise Survey Implementation Report" for detailed methodology on sampling.
Overall survey response rate was 66.8%.
Since the ESM uses stratified random sampling, individual observations should be properly weighted when making inferences about the population, since unweighted estimates are biased unless sample sizes are proportional to the size of each stratum. For each ESM, special care is given to correctly compute sampling weights. Whenever the Universe is used to draw the sample (i.e., Sampling Frame is the same as the Universe) it is imperative to accurately adjust the universe within each stratum to account for the presence of ineligible establishments (e.g., the firm discontinued businesses, or is deemed ineligible due to its business activity or having fewer than five employees). Proper treatment of panel establishments is also crucial. Details about how the ESM sampling weights are calculated are given in the Sampling Note section of "The Central African Republic 2023 Micro, Enterprise Survey Implementation Report".
Three versions of sampling weights are calculated, depending on the assumptions that determine eligibility of establishments to be counted towards the ESM universe.
Survey instrument
The standard ESM questionnaire covers several topics regarding the business environment and business performance. These topics include general firm characteristics, sales, and supplies, management practices, competition, innovation, capacity, land and permits, finance, business-government relations, exposure to bribery, labor, and performance. Information about the general structure of the questionnaire is available in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf).
The ESM datafiles are organized in ways that reflect the corresponding questionnaire. The variables that are standard across countries have the first letter in their name correspond to the questionnaire section where the variable belongs in the questionnaire, i.e., a1 denotes section A. All variables are numeric with the exception of those variables with an “x” at the end of their names. The suffix “x” denotes that the variable is alpha-numeric.
The ESM datafiles contain two establishment identifiers, idstd and id. The former is a global unique identifier of each establishment, while the latter is unique identifier within each survey. The variable idstd can be used to match the ESM establishment one-to-one across databases. The variables wweak, wmedian, and wstrong corresponding to sampling weights based on, respectively, weak, median, and strong assumptions about eligibility (see Section III.6 of "The Central African Republic 2023 Micro, Enterprise Survey Implementation Report"). The variable strata corresponds to the stratum of each observation.
Additionally, the ESM datafiles contain many standard variables. The variable d1a2_v4 denotes the main activity of the establishment, as obtained during the ESM interview, coded in the four-digit ISIC Rev. 4. Users should note that this activity may differ from the industry classification given in the Sampling Frame, a4a. Users are generally advised to use industry categories based on the realized information in d1a2_v4. Additional sampling information is contained in variables a2 (region) and a6a (size). The combination of a4a, a2, and a6a forms stratum of each establishment, which is contained in variable strata.
The last complete fiscal year for each establishment is contained in variables a20m (last month of last complete fiscal year) and a20y (last complete fiscal year).
Note that when an entry in the ESM database is empty, this means that the question was not asked to the corresponding respondent. This happens when the question is deemed inapplicable, due to skip patterns or other reasons. In cases when the question was posed, some entry is provided, including don't know, which is an example of item non-response.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2023-01 | 2023-06 |
- Face-to-face [f2f]
Detailed information on the ESM methodology and data collection is provided in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf). The interviews for the Central African Republic 2023 ESM were conducted between January 2023 and June 2023. The interviews were conducted in the following languages: English and French. For monetary variables, the currency was CFA Franc.
The fieldwork for the Central African Republic 2023 ESM was implemented by TNS RMS Senegal through their subcontract, Pongsong Research Consulting (PORECO) S.A.R.L..
Data Access
The World Bank Group. Central African Republic - Enterprise Survey of Micro Firms (ESM) 2023, CAF_2023_ESM_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Analysis Unit | World Bank Group | enterprisesurveys@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_CAF_2023_ESM_v01_M_WB
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development Data Group | DECDG | World Bank | Documentation of the study |
2025-02-05
Metadata version
Version 01 (February 2025)