Timely statistical info vital for policy making 

Dear Editor,

Solomon Islands Herald,

Please consider this letter.

It allegedly seems the Solomons Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO) has been handicapped since 2004 with giving timely and accurate statistical information.

The country’s Government Statistician Douglas Kimi has revealed that since 2004, the NSO had been using an old base, saying it was internationally recommended that its base should have been renewed every five years but due to “some challenges”, the office could “not rebase…”

Mr. Kimi highlighted these facts as he released the country’s rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Monday 23 March.

Mr. Kimi via a statement issued by the Solomon Islands National Statistic Office (SINSO) revealed that during the past years, the National Statistics Office (NSO) had worked closely with the International Monetary Fund- Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC) and the internal statistics advisory support to rebase the country’s GDP using the production and expenditure approaches.

 The GDP rebasing informs policy formulation and decision making by providing up-to-date economic indicators reflecting a more realistic state of the country’s economic performance, Mr Kimi reported.

He added that the availability of comprehensive, timely and accurate information is a crucial aspect of our socio-economic and environmental life to ensure policymakers utilise the data or information available in their decision making and policy formulation progressions.

“Good statistics are the foundation upon which scarce resources are allocated to fundamental needs such as health, housing, and education,” Mr Kimi stressed.

Mr. Kimi said the estimates presented in the new GDP series will be revised in forthcoming releases as improvement work continues.

Source:  Solomon Star News,

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

www.solomonislandsinfocus.com