ESO begins annual business surveys

| 08/06/2020 | 6 Comments

(CNS): The Economics and Statistics Office has begun its annual surveys for the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the Balance of Payments (BOP) covering 2019. The data collected is intended to help shape government policy and set out the country’s economic position, but given the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crash, what happened in 2019 may offer little help to government in navigating the next year.

The survey forms were distributed last month and business owners are expected to return them by 17 July 2020. The surveys seek to collect information necessary to measure the economic performance of the Cayman Islands as a whole and all the individual sectors. The surveys cover all entities that produce goods and services here.

The previous SNA survey conducted in 2019 showed that Cayman’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of the total value of goods and services produced locally, amounted to CI$4.35 billion in 2018 after adjusting for price increases. This represents an economic growth of 4.1%.

The last BOP survey estimated that the Cayman Islands received a total of $3.28 billion from the export of goods and services, mainly tourism, business and financial services to non-residents, against a total payment of $2.04 billion.

To collect 2019 data around 4,600 forms have been emailed or mailed to local businesses, government entities and non-profit organisations. The SNA survey is designed in accordance with the internationally accepted standards issued by the United Nations Statistical Commission. The BOP survey is based on guidelines prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

All SNA and BOP survey returns are confidential, as mandated by the Statistics Law, and are exempt from the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law. The returns will be used exclusively for ESO’s statistical purpose. ESO officials emphasise that the survey results will be published in aggregate form only, with individual information remaining confidential.

All survey respondents are required to return a completed form by the survey deadline 17 July 2020. ESO staff is available to assist in completing the forms. Survey forms and other information can be found on the ESO website or may be requested by contacting 525-8565 (SNA) or 325-6652 (BOP).


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Category: Business, Economy, Politics

Comments (6)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Sorry, it’s a no from me as well.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Hard no from me.

  3. Willing but... says:

    And why doesn’t ESOA have a drop box at Government Administration Building? You can’t email and you can’t drop off t off either. duh!

  4. Anonymous says:

    We have money to pay for this nonsense from an office that cannot even tell us something as simple as how many people are here?

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    • Data Guy says:

      You dont pay for this office – the tax payers in the U.K do!
      2nd: I worked with this team for 3 years and without hesitation can assure you they do the absolute best they can with the strongest team possible .If you do however question the metrics then I challenge you to take part in community surveys they offer .
      The accuracy of the data is a reflection of citizen participation after all!

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      • Anonymous says:

        The money comes from the Cayman Government and not the UK government. The fact that you worked there and do not even know which country paid your salary sort of emphasizes the original point. I am not sure that office should be allowed anywhere near the creation of numbers that have to actually be relied on. If it cannot tell us something as simple and important as how many vaccines would be needed to inoculate the entire population, then the hard math should be left to the private sector.

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