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The Statistics Advisory Board held a meeting today (May 29) to review the main scope of government statistical work and its recent developments.
At the meeting, Members were informed of the latest progress of a number of studies relating to the population statistics system being conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD). These studies included the use of administrative records in mapping out the cross-boundary movements and the trend of leaving and returning to Hong Kong for babies born in Hong Kong to Mainland women (i.e. Mainland babies), and the different approaches for collecting information on new arrivals from the Mainland and Hong Kong Residents residing or staying substantially in the Mainland.
The Commissioner for Census and Statistics and Chairman of the Statistics Advisory Board, Mr Fung Hing-wang said: ˇ§With the increasing social and economic integration between Hong Kong and the Mainland, there has been a growing demand for statistics on population movements. Among others, the trend of Mainland babies leaving and returning to Hong Kong from the administrative records of the Immigration Department is certainly one of the important inputs for updating the population projections which are conducted once every two to three years.ˇ¨
Members were briefed, followed by a demonstration, on the features and functionalities of the online Interactive Data Dissemination System (IDDS) for the 2006 Population By-census. Planned for launching in mid-2008, the IDDS aimed to provide a dynamic and interactive service for users to access a wide range of population statistics and to compile customised statistical tables, charts and thematic maps that could best meet their personal needs.
Also reported at the meeting were the latest developments in statistics on consumer prices. Inflationary pressure trended upwards in 2007 along with the brisk economic expansion. Higher food prices brought about by global food price increases was a main factor that put upward pressure on local prices. To facilitate a better understanding of the changes in consumer prices, the C&SD had recently introduced a number of new measures in the compilation and release of Consumer Price Index figures. For selected food items, additional data collection work was also carried out to enable the Government to monitor the retail prices of individual food items.
Members discussed the recent enhancements to the compilation of trade statistics. At present, merchandise trade statistics were compiled based on the international statistical standard of the United Nations, under which merchandise trade statistics were generally customs-based according to the physical movement of goods. In the light of the growing globalisation trend of the manufacturing and the wholesaling and retailing industries, plan was in hand to enhance the trade statistics through compilation of a supplementary set of trade statistics by using the ˇ§change of ownershipˇ¨ principle newly recommended by the International Monetary Fund. Trade statistics compiled using the ˇ§change of ownershipˇ¨ principle would better reflect the genuine international trade flows and bilateral trade balance as well as the genuine global trade relations under globalisation, and were thus considered more useful for tracking the latest developments in the trade structure of Hong Kong, trade policy review and bilateral trade studies.
Members were updated on the latest methodological development in seasonal adjustment of time series statistics. As from 2008, the X-12 ARIMA method, with enhanced modelling and diagnostics capabilities, had been adopted to replace the previous X-11 ARIMA method for seasonal adjustment of statistical series. The methodological enhancement for various series would be completed by early 2009. Developed and maintained by the U. S. Bureau of the Census, the X-12 ARIMA method had been a standard method adopted by statistical offices in many countries/territories for performing seasonal adjustment of statistical series.
The Board also reviewed other statistical developments since the previous meeting, including the e-government initiatives in statistical work; the latest developments regarding the compilation of labour statistics; promotion of statistical literacy among different sectors of the community; and recent efforts made by the C&SD in strengthening the communication and coordination with the local and international statistical community.
The Statistics Advisory Board is a non-statutory advisory body which advises the Commissioner for Census and Statistics on matters pertaining to government statistical work. The terms of reference and composition of the Board can be found on the C&SD Website (www.censtatd.gov.hk/about_us/our_advisory_board/index.jsp). Agenda of the recent meetings of the Board together with the press releases on key issues discussed are also posted there.
Ends/Thursday, May 29, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:15
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