Skopje, 12 December 2020 

The National Bank hosted a workshop for statisticians dedicated to the statistical challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the workshop was to unite the statisticians from the central banks in the region, i.e. from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Croatia and Montenegro, which exchanged the current experiences and practices and offered solutions to overcome the challenges posed by the covid-crisis. The initiative of the National Bank was greatly appreciated and statisticians from ten central banks of the region participated in the workshop.

"Unlike the previous crisis episodes, which suggested a need to fill the so-called “data gaps”, i.e. preparation of data that lack to make appropriate decisions, this crisis further emphasized the need and challenges in terms of ensuring continuity, more specific timeliness and quality of the entire statistical process” - said among other things the Vice Governor of the National Bank, Ana Mitreska, in her opening address.

In her address, pointing out that every crisis poses challenges to statistics and statisticians, Mitreska also referred in more details to the challenges which have been identified so far during the current crisis. Moreover, she also pointed out that in this specific period, our central bank managed to deliver all statistical surveys without delays, by maintaining the standard quality. The experience of the National Bank in this respect, i.e. the detailed aspects of the process of collecting and preparing statistical data during covid crisis were presented within a separate presentation by the Statistics Department.

As emphasized at the workshop, the overall context of the COVID-19 pandemic affects the collection and dissemination of statistical data, at a time when statistics is most needed. The presentations and discussion at the workshop enabled exchange of experiences with the specific problems that statisticians have faced in the current period of the crisis and several individual solutions were presented. In this way the workshop contributed towards significant knowledge and capacities of the central banks of the region, for dealing with the challenges which in the statistical area could come to the fore in the future. Specifically, the virtual event included ten presentations, which also opened issues about the further challenges for statistics (such as the probability of future major data revisions), after which the participants discussed them.

The statisticians who participated in the workshop concluded that the central banks of the region, in terms of the accomplishing of their tasks as bearers of statistics implemented appropriate measures for overcoming the shock caused by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby the “new normal” currently has a limited impact on the entire statistical system. The statistical systems not only proved that they are resistant to this type of shocks, as was the first wave of the covid-crisis, but in some of the countries, the bearers of statistics in the conditions of the covid-shock also made methodological improvements, started to apply easier access to data for users, ensured easier manner of conducting statistical surveys and submitting data by reporters, introduced new and more detailed data. Our central bank is also among the bearers of statistics that are numbered in these positive examples. In the past period, the National Bank started to submit multi-dimensional data on direct investments to Eurostat, started to regularly publish more detailed data of portfolio investments of residents in foreign securities, and the preparation for the first publication of the data from financial accounts statistics is also under way.

At the workshop it was concluded that the institutions carrying out statistical surveys, in the conditions of the covid-crisis, can still face challenges such as difficulties when collecting surveys, smaller responsiveness to statistical surveys and delay in the submission of data from reporters. Regarding these problems, at the workshop the participants discussed several possible solutions, on the basis of the current experiences from the period of the crisis.

The statisticians from the ten central banks of the region highly valued the exchange of experiences and workshop conclusions, acknowledging the efforts of the National Bank, not only for reaching high statistical standards, but also as a cohesive factor of the bearers of statistics and being one of the leaders among the institutions carrying out statistical surveys in the region.