Administrative statistics still a challenge- official

The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) has said that it has managed to periodically produce national statistical data but still challenged by administrative statistics for particular sectors of the economy. The national statistics body said on Wednesday that compilation of data, especially in the sectors of infrastructure, education, labour, commerce and trade sectors is still a challenge. The sectors are regarded as being critical to economic, social and demographic development as well as good governance. “These are challenging fields, building statistics requires time but we are moving progressively,” Yusufu Murangwa, Acting Director General of the NISR said. Administrative data consists of information that is critical to the success of the institution as a whole. Murangwa said they are working closely with line ministries and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to develop and provide updated administrative statistics. He added that five years ago statistics awareness was very low among producers, users, training institutions and policy makers. He also mentioned some of the milestone achievement by the national statistics body that include high level consistency in carrying out official census, child mortality survey, infant mortality, maternal mortality, nutrition and poverty surveys. Another big achievement is the recent new development where the institution produces Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures on a quarterly basis, contrary to the previous years when it was done annually. “If a country is able to conduct such surveys regularly, it is ranked high and we are on the right track,” Murangwa said. According to their national strategy for the development of statistics, all administrative reporting system shall be automated to improve accuracy and to reduce the time lag of producing statistics. Ends

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Administrative statistics still a challenge- official