Bureau of Statistics gets $160M refurbished office

Guyana’s main statistical authority now has a permanent structure to carry out its constitutional mandate.

The new $160 million refurbished office of the Bureau of Statistics stands at the

corner of Main and Hope Streets in Cummingsburg — the former office of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Outgoing Chief Statistician, Lennox Benjamin, said Guyana has been without a central statistics office for decades, and activities were highly dispersed.

“The conduct of the population and housing census today, (which) is synonymous with the work of the bureau, was the responsibility of the General Registrar Office.”

He said the transformation over the years from a dispersed statistical system to a central entity was not without its institutional problems. Research has shown, he related, that in the very early years, ministerial responsibility for the bureau shifted from the Trade Ministry to the Finance Ministry, then to the Office of the Prime Minister, to the then Ministry of Economic Development, and upon the dissolution of that ministry, to the Ministry of Planning, before it went back to the Ministry of Finance, where it has since remained.

He said although the entity had gone through so many changes, it has never had an office to call its own.

Delivering remarks made also at the event, President David Granger

reemphasised the important role the unit has to play in Guyana. According to the Head of State, good governance requires good statistics. Statistics, he said, are closely associated with accountability and transparency in policy-making.

“These in turn rely on accurate and timely statistics. Government agencies, the private sector and civil society need accurate, reliable and timely statistics in order to be able to make informed decisions. It takes the guesswork out of decision making”.

Continuing on the critical role of the Bureau of Statistics, the Head of State said the availability of stats is also important for local and international investments, assisting international organisations to identify challenges, and to design the responses to those challenges. “Statistics are therefore essential to government in the delivery of services to its citizens.

According to the President Granger, the bureau is charged with producing statistics that would remove “anecdotal and emotive influences” from the decision-making process. He said his government is committed to the charge of the collection, compilation and dissemination of reliable and relevant statistics at all levels.