Page 55 - Revista del Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo del INEI - Economía, Sociedad y Estadística N° 9

Challenges for

National Statistics

Institutions in the

Face Crisis of Covid-19

Prepared by Research and
Development Center- INEI - CIDE

INTRODUCTION SUPPLY AND DEMAND SHOCKS ON STATISTICS

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a serious The COVID-19 crisis highlights the importance of having
economic and social crisis in the world since the precise, relevant and timely data for decision-making
beginning of the current year. Many sectors in the in the short and medium term. However, the measures
economy have seen their operations seriously affected that have been adopted by the governments in many
or they have simply come to a standstill. In this way, countries around the world to control the spread of
the regular operating activities of National Statistical the virus have had repercussions on statistical systems’
Institutes (NSO’s) has been undermined. The impact operations, both on demand and supply of statistics,
on the supply and demand of statistics creates new specially in developing and least developed countries.
challenges for NSO’s, whose regular operating activities
have had to adapt to the crisis, and where remote On the demand side, governments have requested
work has risen as the main work modality. There have more precise, relevant and timely data, whilst taking
been diverse types of reactions from NSO’s – varying into account the balance between the quality of this
according to the NSO’s technical capacity or the country’s data and the speed at which data is produced. Data is
infrastructure – all over the world in order to combat needed to monitor vulnerable populations, the labor
this crisis. In the face of this invisible common enemy, market, business’ operations, population movement
communication and collaboration are essential tools to patterns, among other economic and social aspects.
counter the negative externalities that have emerged. Unfortunately, demand has not been satisfied in many

55