In its 2014 Article IV staff report on the T&T economy, the IMF noted that "critically," there had been little concrete progress in improving the statistical base.
According to the IMF: "The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has yet to move into suitable quarters and remains woefully under-staffed and under-resourced. The production of critical data (including GDP, trade, and labor, as well as tourism statistics) continues to fall further behind, grinding to a halt in critical areas and rendering the conduct of surveillance ever harder.
Since the publication of the IMF report, the CSO has moved its offices.
Elsewhere in the report, the IMF states: "Critically, the lack of reliable and timely data is an overarching problem that hampers public and private decision-making. Since the last Article IV discussions, there has been little concrete progress in implementing lasting reforms to remedy data shortcomings.
"The CSO still has no permanent quarters after its building was condemned last year and it remains starved of resources, leading statistics production to seriously lag in critical areas. Data shortcomings now severely constrain staff's ability to conduct economic surveillance.
"Moreover, aside from the plan to help alleviate resource shortages on a temporary basis, there are no concrete signs of implementing an action plan to resolve the problems at the statistical agency, and there is therefore a critical and urgent need to provide the CSO the resources needed to fulfill its mission."
In a separate box in the document under the rubric, "Data issues," the fund said: "Data shortcomings have reached critical mass and now severely constrain staff's ability to conduct economic surveillance.
The government data collection agency, the Central Statistical Office (CSO), temporarily ceased operations in mid-2013 and now operates under extreme resource constraints, leading to very long lags for GDP, trade and labour data.
Official trade data are available up to February 2012, labour market data up to March 2013, while the GDP data for 2012 is still only provisional.
There are also significant gaps in tourism statistics, while expenditure-side and quarterly GDP estimates are not compiled. The central bank's efforts to fill data gaps, although laudable, have resulted in estimates that are flawed due to methodological weaknesses.
The government is aware of these long-standing problems and has received an aggressive plan from Statistics Sweden to modernise the CSO.
The report prioritises:
�2 connecting the agency better with data suppliers and users;
�2 improving IT systems; and
�2 enhancing human resources.
The ultimate aim would be legislation to place the CSO on an independent footing by the end of 2014.
However, there has been little concrete progress implementing reforms. CSO staff are still in temporary locations and permanent quarters are unlikely in the next 12-18 months. The CSO's self-proclaimed goal to bring a wide range of statistics rapidly up-to-date once they move into new quarters is laudable, but severe resource shortcomings cast serious doubt on its achievability.
A plan to temporarily alleviate resource shortages entails the Central Bank recruiting 15 staff and assigning them to the CSO for one year. The aim is to clear backlogs of trade and labour market data. Meanwhile, the CSO has committed additional resources ($2 million) for the same purpose, and is collaborating with the Customs Department to resolve trade data issues.
The IMF also noted that the CSO in 2014 had 350 staff, and due to inadequate office "accommodation, some staff work from home, rotate office spaces, or do not work at all."
The IMF report concluded:
"In the absence of concrete progress in lasting reforms to remedy data shortcomings, data lags are growing, rendering surveillance ever harder. Staff urged the authorities to take quick action to provide the CSO with the resources needed to begin to rebuild its capacity."