The
Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) will today commence a nationwide census of
registered business establishments.
Dubbed ECONOMIC CENSUS PHASE II, the exercise will last for 40 days (10 June – end of July 2015).
The exercise is deemed very important since, as stated by GBOS, it is conducted to collect detailed economic data from establishments for the production of sound, reliable and most up-to-date macroeconomic estimates of the economy for efficient policy formulation and evidence-based decision making.
Statistics is important; it gives planners the basis for proper determination of what obtains in society or in any given sector of development.
Accurate statistics, therefore, provide tools that we need in order to react intelligently to information we hear or read. They are also presented in an effort to add credibility to an argument or advice, hence statistics play a vital role in every field of human activity.
It helps in determining the existing position in such areas as per capita income, unemployment, population growth rate, housing, and schooling and medical facilities in a country.It also plays vital role in almost every field such as industry, commerce, trade, economics, physics, and chemistry.
All these make it extremely important for us to regularly and periodically conduct census on such aspects as population, and business establishments, for the benefit of economic planning, state management (administration), banking, accounting and auditing, natural and social sciences, astronomy, and other businesses and sectors of development.
“GBOS, therefore, solicits the kind cooperation of all businesses involved in this exercise to provide HONEST and TIMELY information to data collectors to meet the above-mentioned objectives,” the GBOS statement continued.
“Information provided will be strictly confidential as enshrined in the Statistics Act 2005 and other laws of The Gambia,” it added.
GBOS would like to bring to the attention of businesses that the purpose of “this exercise is strictly for statistics purposes only and has got no relation whatsoever to do with TAXATION and its related activities.”
It is essential, therefore, that such a census is conducted for the production of reliable and up-to-date macroeconomic estimates of the economy for efficient policy formulation and evidence-based decision making.
“Sampling,
statisticians have told us, is a much more effective way of getting a good
census.”
Rob
Lowe
