By Abdoulie John
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs believes The Gambia has not been using the right numbers to properly measure her economy. He said figures of 2004 have been used to calculate the GDP, giving a wrong data on the economy.
“All along our GDP figures have been under-estimated,” Lamin Camara said. “Currently we are using a GDP figure of 2004,” PS Camara said last Thursday during the launch of IMF Regional Economic Outlook at a ceremony held at Ocean Bay Hotel in Cape Point, about 7 km away from Banjul.
Gambian economy is edging towards recovery as the new authorities have launched the New Development Plan (NDP). Also the government has announced a macroeconomic strategy aimed at stabilizing the economy of the West African nation.
PS Camara added that The Gambia’s GDP is seriously under-estimated. The GDP, Mr. Camara stated, is all about the activities in the economy. “Horticulture is everywhere, but it is not captured in our economy,” he deplored.
He cited similar examples in the mining and the informal sectors. While mining activities are taking place across the country, Camara went on, the data available only highlighted activities in the Greater Banjul Area.
“So, how much of our activities in the economy are under-estimated?” he asked.
He disclosed that government is coming up with a project that is going to change the numbers of our GDP.
“We are really committed to fix these numbers issue and data,” he added.
Weighing in on the issue, IMF Resident Rep. Ruby E.M Randall pointed out the fact that the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOSS) has been undergoing a rebasing exercise.
“In the process of doing that, they are also making the GDP more comprehensible,” she added.
IMF boss said there are number of sectors that are inadvertently excluded, and that are going to be captured in the economy.
Ends