By MUHAMMED S. BAH
Samba Barrow, a Principal Statistician at the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS), told the joint Public Accounts and Public Entreprises Committee (PAC/PEC) that the 2014 Economic Census they carried out has recorded 36,000 businesses operating in the Gambia and the majority of which are owned by non-nationals.
He said this yesterday 18 May 2016, during the scrutiny of the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statement of GBoS by PAC/PEC.
The deputies during the scrutiny of the reports asked questions and sought for clarifications on the activities that were carried out in the year under review. On the financial report, they also recommended for the management to look into it and make improvements.
Other issues were also raised by the PAC/PEC members regarding capacity building and the accuracy of GBoS population statistics.
Nyakassi Sanyang, GBoS Statistician General, responded to the concerns raised and promised to act on some of the recommendations.
“We have developed a strategy with regards to capacity building for statisticians and will finalise it soon,” he responded.
He also noted that a lot of their staff have benefited from trainings both locally and internationally, adding that this is an ongoing thing.
The GBoS reports were finally adopted by the joint PAC/PEC.
