Database and Development Indicators

Bhutan
Strengthening the National Statistical System
(June 2001 - June 2004)

• Issues
• Objectives
• Scope
• Contact

Issues

Bhutan’s statistical system is widely decentralized. The Central Statistical Organization (CSO), the only agency whose specific mandate is to collect, process, and disseminate statistics, is primarily responsible for compiling national accounts and CPIs, and for implementing socioeconomic surveys.

In addition to data collection activities, CSO is expected to play a leading role in coordinating and harmonizing the production and dissemination of sector statistics by line ministries. Due to a lack of expertise and unsatisfactory implementation arrangements, CSO’s role as a coordinating agency has been inadequate and needs to be strengthened.

Some line ministries and agencies have benefited from strong technical and financial assistance from bilateral or multilateral agencies to develop their own statistics services. The agencies include the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education and Health, Royal Monetary Authority, and National Environment Commission. Other line ministries have significantly weaker information systems, some of them recently created. Insufficient technical expertise of the staff and lack of equipment are the major constraints to their development. All ministries show a strong willingness to develop their own data management unit.

The rapid development of information technologies in Bhutan creates new opportunities to develop a modern statistical system, not only for data collection and processing, but also for information sharing and dissemination. In this context, good coordination of statistical activities is of utmost importance to avoid duplication and ensure harmonization of concepts and methods.

Improvement of Bhutan’s statistical system is a twofold activity consisting of (i) reinforcing CSO’s role as data producer and coordinating agency; and (ii) assisting the weakest producers of sector statistics to develop their data collection and management systems.

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Objectives

The overall objective of the technical assistance (TA) is to strengthen Bhutan’s statistical system. The specific objectives include (i) revising the statistics law to clarify each data producing agency’s specific mandate and obligations, and to ensure good coordination of activities by CSO; (ii) enhancing CSO’s expertise in national accounts, consumer price index (CPI), and sample surveys; (iii) fostering CSO’s coordinating activities; and (iv) assisting selected producers of sector statistics to develop their capacity to collect, process, and disseminate statistical information.

A parallel objective is to reinforce CSO’s capacity to analyze and monitor poverty. Relevant data on households’ living standards must be collected for the production of a comprehensive poverty profile

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Scope

To help institutionalize a well-coordinated and harmonized statistical system, a statistics office management expert has been engaged to assess the statistical system and provide recommendations for establishing a statistics law.

Data collection activities are being supported through a multitopic living standards household survey and additional case studies for national accounts. Particular attention is paid to strengthening the analytical capacities of CSO’s staff members. Specialized training and advisory service will also be provided to change the base year of national accounts and the CPI, and for expanding the geographic coverage of price data collection.

The TA has provided the National Employment Board with consultancy service and equipment to develop its statistical unit. Two major activities will be supported: first, setting up a labor market information system; and second, implementing a nationwide labor force survey.

The TA assisted the Ministry of Communications (MOC) - Information and Publications Unit to set-up data collection procedures for each MOC department, and to build a database for storing and compiling the data. MOC covers some sectors that are of utmost importance for the Bhutanese economy (roads and bridges, urban development and housing, construction, information technologies and telecommunications, and civil aviation).

The Policy and Planning Division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry maintains a database of trade licenses. However, this database does not contain information that could be used to produce statistics (no information on assets, number of employees, revenue, etc). The TA is providing consultancy services to redesign the forms used for collecting data and to upgrade the database accordingly.

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Contact

Mr. Olivier Dupriez, Poverty Statistician
odupriez@adb.org

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