The Tribune

A senior Ministry of Finance official yesterday said modernising the government’s use of data is critical to ensuring The Bahamas meets its national development goals.

Athena Marche, the Ministry of Finance’s deputy financial secretary, said the government had recognised the need to modernise the mechanisms by which it collects, stores and disseminates data.

Addressing a Diagnosis of the National Statistical System (NSS) workshop, she said: “This workshop is a key step in this effort, and we hope that from it we will be that much closer to the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics that establishes the National Statistical System which will, in turn, provide timely, reliable data to decision makers across the country.

“Doing so will ensure that we are using quantifiable evidence to select projects, develop human resource capacity and ultimately meet developmental goals. National statistical reform is a key step towards the modernisation of the information infrastructure in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

The deputy financial secretary said the Ministry of Finance’s modernisation agenda was driven by multiple factors.

She said it must be recognised that no modern government can function without reliable, relevant and timely statistical information. Such data was needed to design and monitor development policies and strategies at a national level.

Ms Marche added that, without accurate statistics, the government would also be operating without feedback on the effectiveness of its decision-making or spending.

“Not only will the NSS change the way that government operates, it will provide a vehicle for the public to hold the government to greater accountability,” she said. “National statistics are an objective measure of government’s performance and, as the democracy in The Bahamas matures, the government welcomes increased participation from all sectors of the public.”

Ms Marche added that it was difficult, if not impossible, to overstate the role of statistics in national financial and development planning. “Statistical information should be used to make decisions on a wide range of issues, including housing and land use planning; health care planning; the provision of educational facilities, national strategies for investment,” she said.

“By providing insight into these and other areas, the NSS will improve the Ministry of Finance’s ability to estimate expected revenue and expenditure across the public service and assist in identifying areas where spending should be increased or decreased.”

Ms Marche added that a National Statistical System will improve the government’s ability to make evidence-based decisions about the allocation and management of scarce financial resources, which links to the goals of public financial management reform.

“Quality national statistics will improve the ease of doing business by making it easier to conduct market research, for example, and by providing companies with the information resources that they need in order to make decisions about the future,” the deputy financial secretary said. “We intend to develop world-class learning institutions, which will require national statistics for academia and research.”