Media release                                                                                                              17 April 2020

COVID-19 lockdown impacts publication of economic statistics

 Statistics South Africa recently issued a media statement on the impact of the lockdown on data collection processes and scheduled web statistical releases. In light of the extension of the lockdown, we felt it important to keep the public apprised of the continuing impact on the publication of scheduled releases, as well as what the organisation is doing to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on business.

To this end, Stats SA recently launched an online qualitative survey with the objective of understanding the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. The survey was sent to a sample of businesses we regularly interact with in our usual data collection activities. “Due to a number of businesses being closed at this time, we will have to wait and see what the response rate is,” said Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke. “We will assess the response rate and compile a note on the results of the survey in the following week, with the option of conducting the survey again.”

“A selection of food and pharmaceutical items that form part of the Consumer Price Index basket are being priced on a weekly basis. We aim to release a note on price changes for these products while the lockdown is still in operation.”

“We hope to provide continuous updates to our statistical users and the public with the revised publication schedule and the initiatives undertaken by Stats SA to provide data to fill the gaps on key economic and social indicators during COVID-19,” said Maluleke.

Measuring economic data for this period is crucial, but extremely difficult as businesses and large parts of government are either closed or not functioning at full capacity during lockdown, and only limited numbers of Stats SA staff are able to work remotely.

Most publications due in April (but covering earlier reference periods) have been suspended. The extension of the lockdown to the end of April required a rethink about resuming the publication of statistics on the economy as well as the potential impact of these events on the quality of statistics. The impact on each series differs depending on the source of the information.

Stats SA understands the need for real-time data to understand the impact of the lockdown on the economy; however, in our endeavour to provide the necessary statistics we are mindful of the constraints imposed by the restrictions put in place to manage the spread of the coronavirus. These constraints, together with the uncertainty regarding when enterprises will resume operations, inevitably impacts the scheduling of data collection, analysis and publication of statistical releases.

A more comprehensive document on the impact of the lockdown on economic statistics can be downloaded here.

Please find below revised schedule for economic statistics publications

Revised publication schedule for economic statistics

 Please note: in some cases data for two months are scheduled for publication in one release, for example manufacturing for March and April in one release on 11 June.

Issued by: Statistics South Africa

For media enquires contact:

Ms. Felicia Sithole

0764300693

felicias@statssa.gov.za

For technical enquires contact:

Mr Joe de Beer

Deputy Director-General: Economic Statistics

0828882600