Maldives Review of the Statistical System of Maldives and the Statistics Development Plan Fifth Project Support Meeting Bangkok, Thailand | 9 May 2018

Outline of Presentation Findings from the Review of the National Statistical System of the Maldives, July 2017 Work on developing the second NSDS , using review as an input in the process

A comprehensive regulatory framework is essential To ensuring the production and dissemination of high-quality statistics in a country. To enforce sound statistical principles and create the basis for professional and independent data collection, processing, storage and dissemination of official statistics Securing confidentiality at each of all stages from data collection to dissemination and storage

Need more clarity for statistics work in the organization structure of NBS within MOFT NBS is placed within the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. NBS is made up of 3 institutions (that do not have the production and dissemination of official statistics as their main activity) the National Archives, the National Centre for Information Technology and the Department of National Registration; No mention of Statistics Division as an institutional entity in the organizational structure of MOFT

Weak coordination and user engagement Weak coordination is the absence of comprehensive multi-year or annual programming for official statistics production in the Maldives. While NSDS in the Maldives, 2010-2019, is in place, it does not form the basis for statistics development activities in practice. The review team also observed an almost complete absence of engagement with users of statistics in the programming of statistical activities.

NBS statistics division staffing issues The Agency has five technical divisions and one corporate affairs division, in total comprising more than 100 positions. Just under 50 are currently filled critical importance of attracting qualified staff no indications that the situation was likely to change in any significant way soon The Statistical Training and Research Division is not staffed at all.

Activate the Statistical Training function of NBS The Statistical Training and Research Division is not staffed at all reflecting long-standing challenges related to meeting training demands Training needs of Statistics Division and the wider NSS will continue to be insufficiently addressed unless dedicated efforts are made critical importance of attracting qualified staff and supporting their continuous professional development, including through training, in a sustainable manner

Challenges surround the use and quality assurance of administrative data Statistics Division is not able to exercise its authority to gain access to administrative data at a sufficient level of disaggregation it cannot make use of these for statistical purposes and cannot assure the quality of the resulting statistics. Therefore, the potential for making use of administrative data to validate, adjust or expand the coverage or granularity of official statistics is not realized, Several “administrative statistics,” i.e. tabulations made directly from administrative databases, are published with no validation or other value-added by the Statistics Division

Need for an integrated survey plan that is funded While survey plans are developed in the Maldives, they are for a number of reasons rarely implemented according to plan. As part of a system-wide survey plan, a comprehensive and integrated system of economic surveys need to be developed;

National accounts statistics Legal, institutional and organizational challenges identified hamper the production and quality of the national accounts. The production of national accounts are not integrated: each basic economic statistics is established from stand-alone data sources by each ministry or agency involved. This hampers the quality of national accounts figures; Need access to unit-level data from administrative records and registers Number of qualified staff should be increased Appropriate training needed Other measures to develop and retain experienced staff needed

Government Finance Statistics & External Trade Statistics An urgent need to improve the methodology, coverage, accuracy, consistency and timeliness of the GFS. Continuation of the roadmap under development for migrating to the latest version of the guidelines on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS 2010)

Consumer Price Index Re-base the Consumer Price Index (CPI), using the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (2016) Re-basing is crucial to producing CPI as it ensures that the basket of goods, which monitors price movement, is reflective of a typical household’s expenditure patterns, which do tend to change over time.

Need for a statistical business register A statistical business register is essential for proper representation of different economic activities in business surveys. The absence of a statistical business register for the Maldives has been a major stumbling block for past economic surveys.

Need to compile a Tourism Satellite Account Maldives do not yet compile a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), TSA is a standard statistical framework and the main tool for the economic measurement of tourism.

Improve quality and availability of construction statistics Considering the importance of construction to the economy of the Maldives, the quality of construction statistics is paramount

Dissemination policy or data release calendars This is lacking at present both at NBS as well as key data providers in the NSS

NSDS training workshop held and an initial framework developed NSDS 2019-2030 initiated NSDS training workshop held and an initial framework developed NSS review was used as an input

Additional sector reviews initiated –local consultant recruited NSDS 2019-2030 initiated Additional sector reviews initiated –local consultant recruited This work is to complete by August 2018

NSDS 2019-2030 initiated with PARIS21 Additional sector reviews initiated –local consultant recruited This work is to complete by August 2018

NSDS 2019-2030 initiated with PARIS21 Second workshop planned for later this year NSDS to be completed and launched during early 2019

Q&A