The African Centre for Statistics of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is organizing from, 18th to 28th May 2020, an online regional seminar on data collection for, and compilation of, consumer price indexes in the context of Covid-19.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has brought big challenges to national statistical systems and their operations. On one hand, the demand for statistics and data as the policy-makers and the public want to know how the outbreak is affecting various aspects of the economy has increased. On the other hand, however, the ongoing social-distancing and lockdowns measures that are introduced to curtail the spread of the virus have also imposed restriction on possibilities for statistical data collection activities. Most of these data collection activities (censuses and surveys) are conducted through face-to-face interviewing. While the challenges for countries country might diverge due to different national circumstances and patterns, they also have common features that require joint efforts to find technical solutions suitable for the African continent. At a recent teleconference with the Directors-General of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in Africa, countries requested from Pan-African institutions and development partners an organized setting where they can share and exchange good practice and experience. In this regard, UNECA is organizing, along with partner institutions (national statistics offices, universities and international organizations, in Europe and North America), a Regional Seminar via teleconference on Data Collection for Compilation of CPI in context of Covid-19 in the weeks of 18-28 May 2020 with two sessions daily. The Seminar will provide a forum for the exchange and sharing of practice and experience among countries, international and regional organizations, academia, and development partners.
The seminar will feature presenters from INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies in France), the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom, Statistics South Africa, Statistics Norway, the University of Michigan (U of Michigan), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
For more: https://ecastats.uneca.org/acsweb/FocusAreas/ESNA/CPI2020.aspx