The National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) came out in defense of the independence of its indicators after the controversy that arose in the media on the way in which the figures of the Colombian economy are calculated and reviewed.
In particular, recent discussions have revolved around the behavior of the indicator of Monitoring of the economy (ISE), A monthly thermometer of the productive activity that has become a reference for analysts, entrepreneurs and makers of public policy and that according to reports, would be handled incorrectly.
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In its pronouncement, the statistical authority recalled that the ISE is fully harmonized with the United Nations National Accounts System and that measures, in volume, the transactions of goods and services of the Colombian economy.
“It is not a subjective compilation of sources, much less a tool for political purposes. Dane figures have no political color. Our only mandate is to produce information with rigor, Independence and international standards, ”said Piedad Urdinola, director of the entity.
Piedad Urdinola, director of the DANE.
The official explained that the reviews made to the data are not discretionary decisions, but part of the technical cycle of the national accounts, as happens in all the countries that follow the recommendations of organizations such as the UN and the IMF and that these revisions are inherent to the statistical process and reflect the incorporation of new surveys, administrative records and complementary sources that arrive with time of time.
“It is important that citizens understand that preliminary, provisional figures and definitive respond to different moments of the information cycle. The calculation that is delivered to 45 days is not the same, when the records are still partial, that the one published a year or two years later, when the complete information has already been consolidated, ”he said.
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According to Urdinola, recent criticisms are unaware that over the years reviews have occurred in all governments, sometimes up and down, depending on how the sources adjust.
For example, in 2024 the indicator also had several negative adjustments, something that is a natural part of the statistical exercise, so for the director of the DANE, to present these corrections as a directed pattern is to ignore the very essence of the official statistics, regarding reflecting the reality with the best information available at all times.
Julio’s Ise positively surprised the market.
Another of the points clarified by the entity has to do with the sources that feed the calculation of the ISE, since some publications indicated that this indicator depends largely on information from the Ministry of Finance. However, the DANE said that, in the case of activities such as Public Administration and Defense, the records of the Integrated Financial Information System (SIIF) are used, which consolidates the data of all entities of the central order and not of a single ministry.
In addition, Urdinola emphasized that in national accounts there are no categories such as “Public Sector” or “Private Sector”, because the measurement is based on economic activities such as trade, transport, health or education, among many others.
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The director also criticized that some interpretations have confused the ISE with monetary aggregates such as M1, completely different concepts, pointing out that “ISE is a short -term indicator that seeks to approach the monthly economic performance. It cannot be confused with monetary liquidity variables, because they measure different phenomena and respond to separate methodologies.”
With all this, Urdinola called for responsibility in the management of public information and recalled that the DANE publishes all reviews in newsletters, annexes and historical bases that are available for any citizen since 2005, and that the entity always communicates the changes in each indicator.
Dane
“Politizing public statistics erodes confidence in a collective good. Independence and rigor with which we work are the best guarantee that the data reflects what really happens in the country,” he said.
Daniel Hernández Naranjo
Portfolio journalist
