Statistics are important for economic growth and the overall development of countries, Sterling Chadee, director of Statistics at the Central Statistical Office (CSO), said yesterday.
"Official statistics are used both to inform the development of public policy and to monitor their impact. This important linkage between statistics and development is reinforced by the call from the United Nations in 2014 for a data revolution in the production and usage of statistics to support the development process," he said during the presentation of a National Strategy For the Development of Statistics for T&T at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre.
Chadee said the CSO does not produce all the statistics for the country.He explained: "The national statistical system comprises the data producers, the data users and the data suppliers.While there exists many definitions of the national statistical system (NSS), the basic element of this system comprises public and private individuals and institutions, as well as the individual researchers whose work contributes to the realisation of better development outcomes of the dissemination and analysis of statistical information."
Apart from the CSO, he said, the Central Bank produces statistics, along with ministries, customs, immigration, universities and other public institutions. He said all these bodies must in the future comprise a national statistical system."We must take steps to improve the integration and co-ordination of the NSS.
We must also enable it to produce high quality, timely, relevant statistics that facilitate greater usage of statistics in formulation of policy and monitoring of outcomes," he said,