ESCWA Regional Advisor for the National Accounts Omar Hakouz visited the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) in Kuwait in April of 2012. During his two-week visit, Hakouz trained the staff of National Accounts Department to review their database on national accounts and publish the compilation in accordance with international dissemination standards. On his last day, the Department held a workshop on “Requirements for Improving the Rules of National Accounts Data.”

On the sidelines of the workshop, Assistant Under-Secretary of the Sector of Statistical Work in the CAS Mona Al Daas said that the visit of Regional Advisor Omar Hakouz comes within the framework of completing the Administration’s efforts on building a national task force of statistical work and on improving the quality of statistical databases, which began a year ago. She clarified that the results of the action plan have succeeded in addressing outstanding data for more than one year, such as foreign trade statistics, the indices of consumer prices and wholesale prices, as well as national accounts.

Al Daas stated that the Central Administration of Statistics began to work according to the 2012 plan, which included the implementation of updating the previous years data; reviewing databases and classifications used for processing in accordance with international guidelines; using regional and international expertise in various areas of statistical work in order to transfer knowledge and build national expertise on safe professional basis.

Hakouz’s visit to Kuwait aimed at transferring international expertise to the staff in CAS, where a number of recommendations were presented to improve national accounts databases and the mechanisms of tackling and documenting them. He also discussed data coordination mechanisms and ways to develop economic surveys conducted by the CAS with key government data suppliers.