(L-R) Managing Director Focus Consulting, Paul Byles; former CIMA chairman Tim Ridley, CIIB Director, Dax Basdeo; CEO Chamber of Commerce Wil Pineau; and Chief Education Officer, Mary Rodriguez. (Photo By Kevin Shereves)
By Kevin Shereves
Kevin@caymannetnews.com
Officials in the financial industry gave a series of recommendations to increase the efficiency of the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO) at an economic statistics seminar for policy, planning and business analysis hosted by that office on Tuesday, 29 October in the Cayman Islands Investment Bureau’s Conference Room.
A panel of industry officials, including former chairman of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, Tim Ridley, and CIIB executive director, Dr Dax Basdeo, gave suggestions for improvements to ESO’s data collection and survey practices.
The seminar sought to highlight the preliminary results of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimation for years 2006 and 2007 taking into account the Cayman Islands System of National Accounts (SNA) and the Balance of Payments (BOP) of the Cayman Islands.
Representing the ESO, Miss Yvonne Newland presented on the System of National Accounts.
Highlighting some of the challenges facing the ESO, she pointed to the unavailability of detailed data and the low survey response rate in some industries, including manufacturing, construction, hotels and restaurants.
She said, “The greatest challenge is the anti-survey culture in the Cayman Islands and the weakness of the statistics law which does not support us.”
Mr Ridley said that the Cayman Islands have moved “dramatically towards a need for transparency and reporting,” noting that “it is all about helping to build a change in perception.”
Mr Ridley also made recommendations on how to address the anti-survey culture in Cayman in order to improve the response rates of the surveys.
He said that the standard forms issued by the ESO should be revisited and revised to include a greater sense of confidentiality.
Mr Ridley also suggested that the ESO should work with key associations including the Chamber of Commerce, the Law Society and the Bar Association, to devise a form that meets international standards.
He said that the statistical data collected by the ESO should be more relevant to the Cayman Islands.
Managing Director of Focus Corporate Services & Consulting and local economist, Paul Byles, said, “It appears that there is a lot of work to do to improve better participation.”
He suggested getting a consolidated database of statistics: “If information was being stored in a central database it would give users better information.”
CIIB executive director, Dr Dax Basdeo was part of the ESO team ten years ago he said, “Timeliness is going to be very important to ensure data gets out quickly and can be used for decision making.”
Chamber of Commerce CEO, Wil Pineau, said that there is a need for a new Statistics Law.
“Penalties need to be analysed and updated and given some teeth,” he noted.
He said, “We are competing against an international audience. We need to focus on the issue of public education and how ESO statistics are presented to the public.”
He suggested that the ESO should focus on public education and better utilise private sector partnerships.
ESO director Maria Zingapan said the seminar presented numbers on the Cayman Islands economy, which had never been produced before, particularly the contribution of the various sectors to gross domestic product, and the transactions of Cayman residents against the rest of the world.
Industry officials on panel suggested that the ESO be transformed into a statutory body in order to enhance the community’s trust on ESO surveys and statistical production.
“This is something that we should seriously consider, and we hope that the new government will see it as important especially as Cayman aims to become more transparent with the advent of the Freedom of Information,” Ms Zingapan explained.
She indicated that existing models to be considered are the UK Statistics Authority and the Statistics Institute of Jamaica. | 
