HARARE The government has begun surveys to gather vital information and statistics to guide state bureaucrats plotting the economys recovery from a decade of acute recession and hyperinflation. Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week told journalists in Harare that some key surveys had last been carried out five years ago, while the unprecedented economic meltdown that saw inflation hitting a trillion percent by some accounts had distorted previous data baselines to leave planners without credible statistics they need to make vital decisions.
Questionnaires are being dispatched starting from this week, Biti said, adding that the Central Statistical Board that is now as the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) will carry out surveys in the manufacturing, mining, electricity supply and construction sectors to establish production and employment levels.
The ZIMSTAT earlier this week announced that it had begun preparations for a population census that will be carried out in 2012. The ZIMSTAT will also conduct surveys in the agricultural sector where production has shrunk by more than 60 percent because of President Robert Mugabes chaotic and often violent programme to seize white-owned commercial farms for re-distribution to blacks.
Biti said the African Development Bank had provided funds to pay for the data capturing exercise.
Post published in: News