ECA unveils programme to modernise statistical production processes in Africa

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has unveiled a programme to support Member States in modernising administrative data for statistical purposes.

This is contained in a statement delivered on behalf of the UN system in Cameroon, by Adama Coulibaly, Chief of the Sub Regional Initiatives Section at ECA’s Office for Central Africa.

The ECA also emphasised the need for national statistical systems to “transform and modernize to be more agile and resilient to crises” such as the COVID-19.

“COVID-19 has shown that our statistical systems need to move away from current traditional operating methods to support countries’ sustainable development and transformation agendas effectively.

“Administrative data sources provide several advantages. They offer high-frequency disaggregated data, critical in the SDGs context of leaving no one behind.

“They reduce production costs as data is collected routinely for administrative activities and decrease respondent burden,” Coulibaly said.

Also, Joseph Tedou, Director-General National Institute of Statistics (NIS) in Cameroon, said the NIS was implementing the Statistical Business Register (SBR) and the turnover index projects using administrative statistics.

The director-general said this was being done in line with the ECA initiative.

Tedou said: “the SBR will pool registers from different administrations to create a reference directory of legal units registered with the administration, providing an overall view of economic activity and employment.

“The turnover index will use monthly declarations of companies subject to the normal real tax system to pay Value-Added Tax (VAT).

“To calculate the index, aligning with the Special Data Dissemination Standard”.

According to him, the decision of the NIS of Cameroon to embark on this path is timely and will improve the availability and use of data.

Tedou thanked the ECA for supporting these important projects and making the workshop possible.

He said the initiative aligns with implementing the National Development Strategy 2020-2030 and Cameroon’s goal of modernising its statistical apparatus.

Our correspondent recalls that the ECA, was established in 1958 by the UN Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states (the nations of the African continent following a recommendation of the UN General Assembly.

The ECA has 54 member states, corresponding to the 54 member states of the UN that lie within the continent of Africa or in oceans nearby the continent.