Per Capita Income to Be Above $600 - Gov't Statistician

The government statistician, Dr. Grace Bediako has said in an interview with the Business Chronicle that she cannot say the per capita income of the country is exactly US$600.

She said it could be higher because of higher tax revenue collected and other economic indicators that have performed well during the first half of the year.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), she said, calculates its figures from government data and is dependent on government data when it is ready.

She further told this paper that the base rate for the calculation of the per capita income and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be revised very soon from the current base of 1997 to 2000. "This will reflect in the change of the numbers."

The government statistician argued that the method of calculating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) would be changed before the budget is presented in November and would be in use early next year to reflect current economic conditions.

She said the service is under-resourced because it is looped under the civil service although it is a professional institution. "This does not help," she added.

She noted that the service trains lots of graduates but loses them in a very short time to other research institutions because the service cannot pay them well.

Employees of the statistical service have complained on several occasions of inadequate remuneration, equipment and bad conditions of service at the only statistical gathering institution.