Agency may have released flawed data as more than half of employees quit

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines’ foremost statistical agency may have released incorrect economic data owing to the high turnover of employees and a small budget. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has seen its staff members pared down to more than half from six years ago, officials attending a World Bank-sponsored forum said. Sixty percent of NSCB staff handling PSNA data has already left for other jobs, officials said. In 2002, the national accounts staff had 40 members but this was reduced 33 by 2006 and further pared down to 19 staff members in 2008. Moreover, the agency has to make do with antiquated computer equipment, a consultant added during the World Assessment of Philippine System of National Accounts (PSNA). Just before he undertook data reviews, World Bank consultant Ross Harvey said that one of the agency’s two servers crashed. Its office computers were already eight years old, he added. “The NSCB is in a difficult position. (It has) source data issues and quality concerns with the (national income) accounts and (it has experienced a) severe loss of staff resources," Harvey said. To ensure data integrity, government agencies and the international donor community urged the agency to consider other options in formulating the Philippine System of National Accounts (PSNA), which measures economic growth. During the forum, the NSCB was also told to speed up its adoption of the System of National Accounts of 1993, the global standard used for computing economic growth. Gilbert Valdepenas Jr., a central bank consultant, added that the agency may seek additional funding to shore up resources as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) needs a more efficient statistics to use in its policymaking. “There may be a way out if the agency is prepared to migrate to Chained Value Measures, which is a better means to measure real economic growth. You can present this to the Monetary Board," Valdepeñas said during the discussion. NSCB, in cooperation with World Bank, is coming up with a roadmap to improve the PSNA. The agency is currently focused on training compliers and data producers despite the fast turnover of its staff. “The government must address low salaries of very qualified and hardworking staff," the NSCB said. - GMANews.TV