Statistical Office conducting business register surveys

Until August 31, 2013, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) will be updating its Register of Business Establishments, which will be used as a statistical frame for the sole purpose of conducting Establishment Surveys.

The exercise began on June 1, 2013 and according to a news release from the Ministry of Finance, employees from the CSO have since been visiting establishments to collect the required information.

The Statistical Act, which governs the operations of the CSO, prohibits the release of individual level data by any of its workers.

“Therefore, the information submitted would be kept in strict confidence and will be used for the sole purpose for which it is intended,” said the release, which explained that the information gathered from this activity will only be produced and disseminated at the aggregate level.

The annual update of this Statistical Business Register is a statistical requirement of National Statistical Offices all over the world to ensure maximum coverage of the national economy in terms of size, ownership, economic activity and geography. To be of sufficient quality, the register must be updated at least annually to record unit creations and deletions, as well as changes in address and stratification variables.

The required information is being collected under Section 7 of Grenada’s Statistical Act 1960 and hence will be used for statistical purposes only.

Some of these purposes include:

• The detection and construction of statistical units;

• A tool for the preparation and co-ordination of surveys, and for grossing up survey results;

• A source of information for statistical analysis of the business population and its demography; and

• A dissemination tool.

The existence of an updated register also creates a stronger foundation for the implementation of the ongoing National Accounts Surveys and the Balance of Payment Surveys.

It also paves the way for the conduct of additional establishment surveys, which may include Labour Needs Assessment, Job Vacancy Surveys and Productivity Surveys.

The results of the establishment surveys, which are administered after sampling from the business register, provides information which feeds into the production of critical economic indicators used in analysing the structure of the economy, such as the level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), its composition and real growth rate; and the balance of payments and its components. Those indicators are used to inform national policy making and also to provide a tool for monitoring development of the national economy over time and the effectiveness of government policies implemented. (LS)