Friday, 23 August 2013 01:58
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By Uditha Jayasinghe
In line with internationally-accepted practices, the Census and Statistics Department has decided to hold an Economic Census to gauge the makeup and trajectory of the Sri Lankan economy.
Officials announced yesterday instead of separately conducting an agriculture and industry data gathering process, the department will begin compiling an integrated census covering agriculture, industry, trade and services in one program. Apart from collecting information on the four different sections of the economy, the department will also focus on structural changes in different sectors to promote better policy making, collect data on Small and Medium Enterprises, develop facts on the informal sector, measure infrastructure development, give figures to prepare national accounts and provide the framework for conducting the census for the next decade.
The Economic Census will tack four main tasks. The first one will be to list all estates in Sri Lanka, which are defined as an area larger than 20 acres. This will be done between the months of July and August 2013. Then all units engaged in industry, trade and service sectors will be detailed during October and November 2013.
Collecting detailed information of all agriculture holdings will take place from January to March 2014, while collection of data on listed industry, trade and service activities have been allocated for July-August 2014.
The Census and Statistics Department requests all stakeholders to volunteer information and prepare for the census.
