KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — State Minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Fayval Williams, has welcomed work by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) to establish a National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS).

This, she says, will facilitate the creation of a systematic and reliable network across Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the timely provision of data for which she noted there is “growing demand” locally.

She was speaking at the opening ceremony for a three-day public sector NSDS stakeholders’ training workshop at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew on Tuesday, yesterday, where the strategy was launched.

She noted that while many entities such as the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and STATIN collate and analyse statistics suited to their needs, there needs to be a reliable information sharing framework across MDAs.

Williams said the main challenge, as identified by STATIN, is the lack of coordination among the entities regarding collecting and storing data.

She pointed out that inter-agency data access from administrative and official sources is inconsistent, adding that “the quality of the information is not guaranteed as the data is not always compiled for statistical purposes.”

The State Minister noted that, currently, information sharing between Government bodies was not legally mandated and is, for the most part, shared at the discretion of the relevant agencies.

Additionally, Williams said the information is often unavailable for use by other agencies “because officers are either unaware it even exists or are unable to access it.”

 “This is a hurdle that we must overcome. These are areas of opportunity that we can work on to help reduce bottlenecks and red tape and improve access. I must, therefore, commend STATIN for leading the charge among local stakeholders in this regard and urge other Government agencies to begin the conversation towards creating partnerships that will lead to statistical platforms that can aid national development,” she said.

Williams cited the recent launch of Jamaica’s National Summary Data page (NSDP) as an example of this level of cooperation.

The NSDP, which resulted from work involving the Ministry, STATIN and Bank of Jamaica (BoJ), allows for the publication of certain key macroeconomic indicators on Jamaica in a one-stop web portal.

Williams said this information is critical for monitoring Jamaica’s economic performance and provides easier access to public and private sector stakeholders, researchers and international data users, including investors and rating agencies.

The NSDP constitutes part of Jamaica’s participation in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Enhanced General Data Dissemination Standards, and is an important step towards the country’s subscription to the more stringent Special Data Dissemination Standard.

The NSDS will provide guidelines for the development of statistics consistent with the long-term National Development Plan – Vision 2030 Jamaica, which seeks to position the island to achieve developed country status by 2030 and, in the process make Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.