BAGUIO CITY – The Regional Statistics Committee (RSC) urged the use of sound statistical data planning, as the basis for policy-making, decision-making, and budgeting. This call was made after the presentation of the 1st Quarter Regional Economic Situationer (QRES) by NEDA-CAR during the 2nd quarter meeting RSC on May 21, 2019.
Regional Director Irene Gahid of the Department of Budget and Management Cordillera, said that statistics are key to policy-formulation and decision-making. “I hope that the newly-elected officials shall put importance to statistics as basis for their budgeting”. The Committee Chair, PSA-CAR Regional Director Villafe Alibuyog, on the other hand, emphasized that accurate and timely data submission from local government units and regional line agencies is crucial in correctly depicting the state of the region. Planning officers and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) who attended the meeting agreed that development decisions based on statistics better address the needs of the people.
The QRES is a report prepared by NEDA-CAR to provide a snapshot of the region’s economy. The basic data which are carefully analyzed are sourced from regional line agencies and provincial local government units. Regional inflation rate remains consistently low at 2.7 percent compared to the national inflation rate of 3.8 percent, the report indicated. However, prices between provinces vary with Ifugao and Apayao having 7.0 percent and 6.7 percent inflation rate during the first quarter, respectively. Prices rose the slowest in Benguet and Mountain Province at 1.0 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
By Marlo Lubguban