CARIBBEAN                              COMMUNITY                                 SECRETARIAT

TWENTY-NINTH MEETING OF THE                                             RESTRICTED

STANDING COMMITTEE OF

CARIBBEAN STATISTICIANS                                                        SCCS/2004/29/41

Hamilton, Bermuda                                                                          

22-24 November 2004                                                                      22 November 2004

British Virgin Islands

Progress Report, 2004

Reports and Publications:

Social Statistics:

Health, Population and Vital Statistics:

Population projections are made up to the year 2021.  These projections will be revisited as soon as the Census 2001 results are finalized.

Vital Statistics reports for 1993 to 2000 have already been compiled but unpublished.  Reports for the years 2001 to 2003 are presently being compiled.  Information on births is available up to September 2004, deaths up to December 2003, marriages up to July 2004, divorces up to December 2003 and family planning up to December 2001.

Education Statistics:

Total enrollment data up to 2003 has been collected from the Ministry of Education and Culture.  Detailed tables on enrollment are available up to 1997.

Labor Statistics (Work Permits):

Tabulations for these statistics have already been completed up to October 2004. There are no present plans to release these statistics in report form.

Employment and Earnings Statistics:

Detailed information compiled from Social Security Board records is available up to 2003 on income, occupation, industry, among other indicators.

Crime and Justice Statistics:

The report has been completed for 1992. Data collection for the subsequent years has not yet begun.

Census 2001

Scanning and Verification of data have been completed.  The Department is presently going through preliminary corrections to synchronize household and persons data, and is awaiting a consistency checking program to complete final corrections.

Economic Statistics:

Trade Statistics:

Data entry has been completed up to July 2004.  Indicators on Exports and Imports are available up to the year 2003.

Tourism Statistics:

Tourism data extracted from summary sheets obtained from the Immigration Department is available up to July 2004 while data for the period August to November 2004 is presently being entered.  Tourism data entry has been completed up to 2003 for most ports of entry, while data on cruise ships has been entered up to November 2003.  Estimates for tourism statistics including tourist expenditure are available for 2003.  Tourism indicators up to 2002 are available for dissemination.

Financial Statistics:

Financial Statistics are available up to the third quarter of 2003.  The Department continues to receive monthly statistics from the Commercial Banks for 2004.

Government Financial Statistics

A complete set of indicators are available up to 1999.  However, government revenue and expenditure data is available up to 2003 and the Department continues to receive monthly government revenue and expenditure statements from the Treasury Department.

Consumer Price Index:

Consumer prices are collected every month.  The last month to be completed is October 2004.  The last quarterly report available is for March 2004.  A Household Budgetary Survey (HBS) is slated to be undertaken in 2005 to revisit the basket of goods and services and rebase the CPI.

Tourism Price Index:

The last tourism price indices was completed for September 2004 and the most current quarterly report is for March 2004.

National Accounts:

1995 - 1999 Compilation

Compilation of National Accounts Statistics for the British Virgin Islands was completed in 2002 and was structured according to the United Nations (UN) 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA’93).  National Accounts aggregates, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per Capita, Gross National Income (GNI), Gross National Disposable Income (GNDI) and Final Consumption among others have been complied and published for the period 1995 to 1999.  These aggregates were a direct output from work done by a consultant hired by the Development Planning Unit to develop Supply and Use (SUT) Tables for the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) for the period 1995 to 1999.  A National Accounts publication ‘British Virgin Islands National Accounts 1995 – 1999’ was published in 2003.  The table below shows a sample of published National Accounts Statistics available at the Development Planning Unit.  Also shown in this table are estimates developed by the Department for GDP at Current Market Prices for 2000 to 2003.

2000 and 2001 Compilation

Work on compilation of 2000 and 2001 National Accounts data commenced in 2003.  Presently all the data required (government, imports, exports and household and corporations) for input into the SUT have been collected and cleaned.  All component data for 2000 has been imported in the SUT tables and balancing of this data is presently ongoing.  On the completion of balancing of the 2000 SUT Tables, component data for 2001 will be imported into the 2001 SUT and then balancing of this year’s data will commence.

2002 Compilation

The Questionnaire for a Pilot Establishment Survey for the collection of 2002 has been finalized.  This Questionnaire will be distributed to samples of establishments within each economic activity carried on in the BVIs.  A shortened version will be used for the smaller-sized (based on number of employees) establishments.  This Survey will be performed during the first quarter of 2005.  Presently the department is finalizing a list of Establishments in the BVIs.  This pilot survey is being executed in advance of the long awaited and much anticipated Statistics Act for the BVIs.

Tourism Satellite Accounts 1995 - 1999

Tourism is one of the two pillars of the BVIs economy.  Consequently, the Development Planning Unit decided to develop a satellite accounts for tourism.  The same consultant who worked on the compilation of the SUT Tables for 1995 to 1999 was hired to compile 1995 – 1999 Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) for the BVIs.  This system was developed in accordance with the internationally accepted standards outlined in ‘Tourism Satellite Accounts: the conceptual framework (TSA’99)’ published by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in 1999. As a result of the framework being based on and fully compatible with the SNA’93, the TSA was developed based on work already completed on the SUT tables for 1995 – 1999.  By June 2004, the consultant had completed work on a TSA which was fully integrated with the existing system of National Accounts.  Presentation tables are available for dissemination and a publication on ‘British Virgin Islands Tourism Satellite Accounts, 1995 – 1999’ will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2005.  The table below provides a sample of aggregates from the Tourism Satellite Accounts compilation for 1995 – 1999.

Balance of Payments

The system of Balance of Payments which is maintained by the Development Planning Unit is fully integrated with the System of National Accounts through the Rest-of-the-World Account in the National Accounts.  Consequently, the progress of work in this area is at the same level as that of the National Accounts.  Balance of Payments Statistics for 1995 – 1999 is available, while compilation of the 2000 and 2001 Balance of Payments is ongoing.  A Balance of Payments Publication ‘British Virgin Islands Balance of Payments Statistics, 1995 – 1999’ should be completed by December 2004.  It is anticipated that 2002 Balance of Payments data will be collected along with the National Accounts data from the 2002 Pilot Establishment Survey.  A sample of Balance of Payments Statistics available in the department is shown in the table on the next page.

Miscellaneous Reports:

The Department provides a quarterly newsletter and the most recent edition available is for September 2004.  The December 2004 issue is presently being compiled.

Training:

Presently, there is one (1) member of staff being trained.  He is pursuing a Joint Honors Bachelor of Science Degree in Statistics and Economics in England.

Web Site (The Internet):

The DPU has its own dedicated website that is now accessible.  It is still being developed and there are plans to greatly increase the amount of statistical and economics data available at the site.  The address is www.dpu.org.

Staff: (28 members)

·        1 Head of the Development Planning Unit

·        1 Deputy Director

·        1 Assistant Director

·        1 Chief Programme Officer

·        2 Statistician

·        3 Economists

·        2 Senior Executive Officer

·        2 Statistical Officer

·        1 Executive Officer

·        9 Clerical Officers (Support Staff)