Juan Daniel Oviedo feels the tranquility of having fulfilled his duty. The economist, who came to National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) in 2018, it turned the country’s statistics upside down. From perceptions about being poor, a vulnerable woman or an ethnic population, to the reality of millions of micro business that sustain the Colombian economy, began to swell the reports produced by the entity.
The elected president, Gustav Petro, He has given clues that he wants to continue in office, will he accept it?
Oviedo spoke with Portfolio about the balance of these four years in front of the entity, and the transformation that he considers, can be handled as a relay race.
(See: Subsidies, a relief for the pockets of Colombians).
You have been at the helm of Dane for four years, what is your balance in that time?
I would like to highlight the main changes that we have been able to initiate within the Dane. One is an approach as a statistical office, through its publications, to users. For me, simply, the approach to users is extremely important, and that is a fertilizer for people to trust statistics more and move on from the controversy and suspicion that have always surrounded the Dane.
A second achievement would be that we have managed to sensitize households, businesses and local governments to feel visible in these statistics. A third point has been to open ourselves to the use of administrative records for the production of official statistics, take advantage of alternative sources; and the use of geostatistics, which has been fundamental, has allowed Colombia and its problems not only to have the face of people, but also of places, as we did with the covid vulnerability viewer at the block and neighborhood level for all cities, or teenage pregnancies.
What will be the biggest challenges in statistics for the next government?
They are five. That fertilizer also needs irrigation, the other half of the way is the official statistics bill; the second is technological strengthening, that requires extra investments; the third is to improve the levels of trust with the ethnic groups of the country and the fourth and fifth challenges are associated with the forceful applications that the Dane requires in terms of statistical operations in two dimensions: the economic census, and the public cadastre service multipurpose, the government is required to define a fluid source of financing so that the territorial entities can contribute.
(See: Inflation in June reached 9.67%, the highest figure in 22 years).
At what point is the Official Statistics Law and what is coming for it in the future government?
Our progress is 50%, my goal is for this government not to have suspension points due to the transition, and the bill has already passed in the first committee, and it is important to emphasize that the capacity granted to the Dane to access all the country’s administrative records are restricted to statistical purposes. In the House a comment arose, “We are calm with that power because you are there, but what happens if a government uses it to know things that it should not because of the protection of personal data?“, but the role of the Dane is not to do fiscal auditing, or political control, or strategies that are not ethical, it is to produce official statistics. We are going to work around the issue, to avoid suspicion, the Congress knows that it is an important issue that it gives a more institutional and less governmental connotation.Our objective is that it can be approved by the Senate in this first legislature.
The economic census is expected to be ready for next year. What will this statistical operation imply for the country?
This implies putting on the table the high-definition photo of informality. The country’s formal economy may be barely half that, so being able to effectively see this great participation of economic units at the micro-business level, which is the overwhelming majority of all economic structures, is to know what is happening in them in depth. We have improved thanks to the micro-business survey, but what the economic census will allow beyond the photo is to have a high-resolution image of the country’s informality. While 2 out of 3 formal companies said they received help from the government, only 18% of micro-businesses did, and it was through solidarity income. To advance in business formality, it is necessary to build ties with informality.
(See: Microbusinesses decrease, but their income increases).
You put a ‘social’ face on pandemic statistics, what is the importance of measuring citizen perceptions?
This humanization of official statistics is part of Dane’s achievement that users see themselves reflected, and break the myth that perceptions are not useful. They are an unspoken voice of the problems of society, and these perceptions have some faces of women, others of the Afro population, others of people with disabilities, that is important. With this background of social nonconformity, public policies also have to recognize that not only objective metrics are the reflection of effectiveness and satisfaction of specific user needs.
Do you feel that your role as director of the Dane ‘restored’ people’s confidence in statistics?
It’s a bit difficult for me, but I think that what initially became a source of personal annoyance, “that man with that gomelo voice, who is talking over there, is completely disconnected from the country,” began to unleash along with the pandemic, which made the whole country need to know what was happening with employment, with women, with deaths, in something else. It was to see that the same person who annoys them begins to respond and begins to be systematic in describing what the pandemic is causing in the country, and changed to “suddenly that man is committed to ensuring that the statistics tell the truth.” But I think it is more because of Dane’s systematic discipline of doing new things in a pandemic, such as the Social Pulse, the Relab, the Business Pulse, the Migration Pulse, as opposed to stopping doing things.
And I think that it was annoyed in the media and social networks, it allowed the person to have greater visibility, and the person has always wanted to wear the Dane’s vest, and beyond that, what I would like is for all this to remain for the Dane when I leave . Our commitment is that the development of the Dane is not one of government cycles, but of institutional transition, independent of political cycles. True transformations are unique, but they are generated with relays, like in races, the important thing is to change the post, do it well, and that people know that there are priorities and teams and you have to continue at the same speed so that that race of relays leads to the Dane having a transforming transition of its role in society.
(See: Exports: US$22,982.4 million between January and May).
The president-elect, Gustavo Petro, has made favorable comments about his administration. Is there a possibility that he will continue as director?
When the president was a candidate, he expressed his interest in continuity, yes, and being transparent, there was a contact this week. But beyond thinking that this is yes for no reason, and I don’t want to sound unpleasant, we have fought for unique transformations, but that are generated with relays, the important thing is to tell you what is there, what is the piece of paper rolled up in that post , what do we want to convey to the new government, and if he considers that we can continue carrying those little pieces of paper, I would already evaluate that continuity. Because also personally I want to continue challenging my brain, learn other things, study art history, do my master’s degree, travel, but these are decisions that will be made only when I have that opportunity to tell the president about the piece of paper that has to be passed on the post, and if he considers that only we can pass him, I would already evaluate him on the personal issue.
(If you want to read more news related to the Dane, click here).
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
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