NSO report to counter Labour claims on statistics

The National Statistics Office will be compiling a document in the coming days to reply to questions raised in a technical report drawn up by the Labour Party.

Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion told a news conference on Friday that the public had a right to an unequivocal explanation about what had led to the sudden positive turn in official statistics.

In a statement, Malta Statistics Authority chairman Reno Camilleri said the NSO will be providing technical answers to questions raised in the MLP report.

The NSO's reply will show how different and independent statistical sources contribute to the revisions in the data.

The MLP report questioned the credibility of revising reference periods dating over three years but Mr Camilleri said the NSO will not be making any revisions beyond three years of back data after the first quarter of 2007.

"There is general consensus about the importance of the quality and credibility of national statistics. To ensure such credibility, it is essential that statistical methods and practices enjoy the consensus of a sufficiently wide spectrum of civil society," Mr Camilleri said.

The chairman invited Dr Mangion to a series of meetings with the statistics authority to discuss the issues raised in the report. The offer is extended to other interested institutions.