Latest update February 16th, 2025 7:49 PM
May 20, 2020 News
Statistics that is accurate and comprehensive is at the heart of measuring the economic well-being of a nation; hence, the reason countries invest significant resources in strengthening their National Statistical System (NSS).
In Guyana, the Government has been working assiduously to strengthen and support the Bureau of Statistics (BOS) and other statistics producing agencies and departments to promote the development of the National Statistical System in a way that embraces international standards and best practices in data collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination.
And on the back of those efforts, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan who also holds the portfolio responsibility for the Bureau of Statistics, was particularly honoured to formally introduce just a few days ago, the new rebased series of Guyana’s National Accounts. Rebasing an economy basically involves revising or updating the methods and the based data used to calculate a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It therefore means that with the rebased series, Guyanese can look forward to a more accurate measure of the GDP.
According to Minister Jordan, the rebased series is now part of the country’s National Accounts Estimates for the year 2019. The economist noted that the new series incorporates new data sources and adopts new international methodological and industrial classification standards. He said that the outcomes and publication of the new GDP series underscores the commitment of the Government to producing and disseminating high-quality statistics.
Further to this, Minister Jordan said that the newly rebased series replaces the current series at base year 2006, which was introduced exactly 10 years ago. He said also that the release of this new, rebased series is part of the routine statistical activities of the BOS, and is specifically linked to recent efforts to review and update statistical methodologies across the Bureau’s various data products. Other methodological reviews which are either on going or were recently concluded include unemployment, poverty, prices and trade statistics, and an agricultural census.
Kaieteur News understands that the review of the national accounts series, for obvious reasons, is relatively more complicated and has therefore taken much longer than initially anticipated. Minister Jordan was keen to note that the introduction of this new series of the National Accounts completes another phase in the continued development of Guyana’s National Economic Statistics and sets the platform for further development and improvement in the country’s overall national statistics databases. Jordan said it is in line with the Bureau’s renewed efforts in the last few years to ensure the availability of reliable and timely statistics, which are necessary for policymaking and business decisions.
The Minister said, “The field of statistics symbolizes one of the strongest examples of the depth of intra-agency cooperation and knowledge transfer that exist between national statistical offices (NSOs) and between the NSOs and regional and international statistical agencies and practitioners.”
He added, “Throughout this important undertaking, the Bureau of Statistics was supported by both of its regional and international partners. The Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) continues to be a beacon of support in the areas of development, improvement and refinement of national economic statistics.”
On this note, Minister Jordan thanked CARTAC and its Real Sector Advisor for the extensive technical support provided during this exercise. He also recognised the coordinated support and contribution of the Canadian-Government funded Project for the Regional Advancement of Statistics in the Caribbean (PRASC) and the Regional Statistics Programme at the CARICOM Secretariat.
Minister Jordan said that the new, re-based GDP series will stand out in significance because it is the first time, since the production and publication of a continuous GDP series, which began some 60 years ago, that an activity like Petroleum and Gas, with support services, is being introduced in the measure of the Guyana economy.
From all indications, Minister Jordan said that the emerging Petroleum and Gas Sector, with its attendant linkages to other sectors of the economy, is set to catalyze the explosion of growth, expansion and development of the country.
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