Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) is set to conduct an economic census next year which will cover both formal and informal establishments across the country in order to generate comprehensive baseline statistics on the size and structure of the economy as well as generate key information required for compilation of matrices used in computing Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Last year, ZimStat conducted the population and housing census which is part of the three basic censuses conducted by a country.
While Zimbabwe had not undertaken the other two over the years, preparations are at an advanced stage to have an economic census which will be followed by the agriculture census.
Responding to questions from Sunday News Business, ZimStat director-general Taguma Mahonde spoke on how the statistics agency will conduct the census.
“There are basically three types of major censuses namely the population and housing census, the economic census and the agriculture census.
The current undertaking focuses on the economic census after which the agriculture census shall be conducted.
We are set to conduct an economic census which will take stock of economic activities within the geographical boundaries of Zimbabwe, except those engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing activities; public administration and defence; compulsory social security activities; financial institutions; activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies and activities of households as employers,” he said.
He said the census excluded the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry as it has a separate census while public administration and defence; compulsory social security activities; financial institutions; and activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies have readily available data.
Activities of households as employers is not included as an economic activity.
He said the economic census would cover both formal and informal establishments across all provinces.
“A listing exercise will be carried out to develop a register which will be used as a guideline during the enumeration phase.
The enumeration will take the census format for large establishments while small business entities, both formal and informal, will be covered through a survey approach,” he said.
He said the objectives of the economic census were to update the statistical business register of Zimbabwe amongst, others.
“The objective of the census is to generate comprehensive baseline statistics on the size and structure of the economy, provide valuable insight into the geographical spread of economic activities and establishments in the country, generate key information required for compilation of matrices used in computing Gross Domestic Product and update weights of various industries as they relate to GDP,” he said.
The economic census will be implemented through various activities which include engagement with international co-operating partners.
“ZimStat has already engaged international co-operating partners including IMF, AfDB and Comesa for technical assistance.
We are also developing instruments and pre-testing.
The design of census instruments entails the development of questionnaires and manuals, system development and conducting pre-test, among other activities.
An exercise to identify establishments will be carried out to develop a register which will be used as a guide during the enumeration phase.
A pilot census will then be conducted prior to the actual economic census to test on questionnaire design, questionnaire content and adequacy of fieldwork logistics, among others,” he said.
He said the last processes will include enumeration, data processing as well as dissemination of results.
“The enumeration phase entails the actual data collection process and will run from January 2024 to December 2025.
Data collection will be done using both the Paper Assisted Personal Interviewing (PAPI) method and web-based questionnaires.
The next stage will be data processing, a stage which involves data cleaning, verification, editing and, consistency checks.
Preliminary results for the economic census are expected to be released by 31 March 2026 and the final report to be published thereafter,” he said. — @nyeve14