Editorial-Cooking the books to please whom?

25 December 2013 06:30 pm Views - 1487

Another state-agency appears to have lost credibility. It was reported a couple of days back that the economic growth rates of the country were likely to have been tampered with by the Census and Statistics Department.

According to many analysts, the suspicion has been there for some time about the recent statistics presented by a number of state agencies. But there was no material available to prove such allegations. But it seems that this time, there will be material information about how the authorities meddled with the statistics.

"Despite the official figures of high growth and low inflation, people have been finding their day-to-day lives increasingly difficult. Therefore, in their subconscious, they know that there is no rational connection between their economic status and the country’s growth rate and inflation"

It is interesting to find out who the authorities try to hoodwink by cooking the books. If they were thinking of misleading the people, it is of no use. Despite the official figures of high growth and low inflation, people have been finding their day-to-day lives increasingly difficult. Therefore, in their subconscious, they know that there is no rational connection between their economic status and the country’s growth rate and inflation.

But then who were the authorities trying to hoodwink? If not the public, is it the international community? The international lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, Word Bank etc? Whoever they were planning to cheat, it would make the country lose its credibility in both domestic and international fronts.

However, still there are government agencies which have preserved their credibility. There are public servants who will not bend to calls from high powers to massage statistics.

For example, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority released the tourist arrivals figures for the month of November a couple of days back. The arrivals had grown by only 3 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. It is likely that with that kind of growth, the arrival target for 2013 may not be met. Some might interpret this drop as a major embarrassment to the government given the much hyped CHOGM taking place in November.

However, officials at SLTDA did what they were supposed to do and published the actual arrival figures, though they were the lowest in any month in 2013.
Cooking the books or creative accounting as some may term it might not render immediate negativities. But the long term damage the practice can cause is enormous and as the saying goes loss of credibility is almost impossible to restore.