Stats office to release GDP, fourth-quarter CPI reports

By LEMACH LAVARI
The National Statistical Office (NSO) will release the 2015 gross domestic product (GDP) and the 2017 fourth-quarter consumer price (CPI) index reports this week, says chief statistician Roko Koloma.
He said the publication of the reports came with help from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
He said the ABS had been working with the NSO for the past three years.
Koloma said major milestones from the partnership were publication of GDP estimates and re-basing of the CPI year from 1977 to 2012.
He said the report would reflect the impact of the 2015 Pacific Games on the economy.
Koloma also announced that 10 officers from NSO would attend a week’s training in Canberra, Australia, to do statistical analysis training.
Koloma said the ABS was the “gold standard” in the region in regard to statistics.
He said their partnership was made possible through the Australian High Commission.
ABS assistant director Laurie Nitschke said the bureau’s partnership with NSO had resulted in the publications of 10 GDP reports.
Nitschke said ABS was working with the NSO to reduce the gap in producing GDP estimates.
“We are looking at releasing the 2016 and 2017 GDP estimates this year too,” he said.
“The ABS wants to improve the statistics in the region.”
Australian High Commission second secretary, economic, Edward Wilkinson said publishing timely and reliable statistics had a great impact on Papua New Guinea’s bureaucracy and the political environment.
He said the high commission was happy to play a part in helping the NSO.
Koloma thanked his staff and the Government for providing political support to ensure the NSO published important statistics.