WASHINGTON, June 9, 2014—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$4.8 million IDA* credit for the Republic of Congo to create a more reliable statistical system to be able to assess the country’s economic and development situation and policies..
“The World Bank continues to support the Congo’s efforts to become an emerging economy,” said Eustache Ouayoro, the World Bank Country Director for the Republic of Congo. “Through this project the government will be able to expand its statistical capacity so that it can better target its interventions such as addressing poverty and gender inequalities.”
The new Statistics Capacity Building Project will strengthen the government’s capacity to generate and use statistics, particularly gender data, for analysis and policy decisions. It will also help to improve coordination among government ministries and departments and better capture results in education, health, and other key areas of government services.
The project will help attract qualified staff, upgrade statistical communication technology, improve the quality of statistics, and develop the way statistics are used and disseminated. It will also support acquisition and maintenance of computers, data management, and other systems for data collection and analysis. It will also support new statistical products on demographic and social activities, economic and finance, and on household living conditions.
“Increasing private investment, creating jobs and achieving better outcomes in health and education in the Congo all depends on how well policies are designed and updated,” said Franck M. Adoho, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the project. “Accurate and reliable statistical data is vital to developing effective policies.”
