Lawmakers were today warned not to allow the state of the economy to jeopardize the country’s chances of having quality and up-to-date information so better decisions can be made at all levels.
Francisco Javier Urra, the Inter-American Development Bank’s Chief of Operations for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean suggested that the hemispheric bank would provide the funds to help nations gather reliable data.
Urra was speaking at the opening of the Caribbean thematic conference: Managing a Statistical Organization in Times of Change at UN House on Monday.
Francisco Javier Urra
Acknowledging that Barbados was currently undergoing an International Monetary Fund-backed (IMF) programme, Urra said it was now common for the IDB, which is also providing support, to have regular discussions with Government about making “strategic choices about budget allocation”.
He declared: “We at the IDB, we believe that undermining the capacity of a country to have solid and accessible data would be a terrible mistake.”
Stressing the importance of timely statistics for “good decision-making”, the IDB official said poverty and other issues facing the region were becoming more complex, required “good data” in order to find solutions.
Urea said: “This is why for policymakers, for high-level officials, for those who try to enable policies that are cross-cutting, having that ground it is almost like a beacon in this time of austerity and this time of information and fake news.
“So the role of having strong statistical offices is more relevant than ever.”
Over the last two decades, the bank had provided $60 million (US$30 million) in the form of loans and technical assistance for the region’s statistical development.
Barbados is in line for an $80 million (US$40 million) IDB loan to help modernize the public sector, including the upgrading of the Barbados Statistical Service (BSS).
Praising Government for its modernization efforts, Urra disclosed that the loan should be approved by Wednesday.
But he pointed out that while Barbados and other Caribbean countries performed “relatively well” in a number of areas of development when compared to Latin America and other countries, there was a lack of quality data, which he described as a “complicated situation”.
Declaring that adequate data “goes beyond the walls” of the national statistical departments in the region, Urra said the IDB was willing to work closer with those agencies so they could help to strengthen the data collecting capacity of ministries and other agencies.
Pointing to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) as an example of an institution that was lacking critical data, Urra pointed out that without critical statistics it would be difficult for the island’s main medical institution to get technical assistance from some development partners.
While the digitisation of the BSS has started, the agency’s work has been set back by a lack of money and manpower.
BSS director Aubrey Browne said the last modernization exercise ended two years ago with recommendations for a change in the agency’s organizational structure so that several units would produce statistics to be fed into a national digital database which would then be available to the public.
Browne said: “One of the things we really have to work on now is developing a release calendar for the release of statistics.
“We still have a way to go in terms of that development and the main challenge is [not] having the available resources to support the statistical organizations.
“As you would be aware we are still operating under an IMF programme so we are having challenges in allocating resources. That is the main challenge we are facing at this time.
“So right now we are operating at less than optimal situation.”
Browne give an assurance that Government was moving with alacrity to sort out the BSS’s issues.
Statistician with the CDB Dindial Ramrattan warned that demands from residents were constantly increasing, and if officials were not ready to deliver timely and adequate data they would have to contend with “fake news” and incorrect use of available information.
Adding that the increased data demand was also driving increased scrutiny, and that technology was changing the way information was being shared, he said national data collecting agencies should operate in a timely and efficient manner by being “proactive, reactive and responsive”.
The CDB official also urged Caribbean countries to learn from each other, development partners and the rest of the world, as he called for a change in mindset “where we are more social in how we deal with our matters, recognizing that social media, while our best friend with free marketing and free publicity, is also our biggest critic that is not always with accurate facts”.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
