• It was on the occasion of the 2^e ordinary session of the year of the National Statistics Council

• An increase in poverty observed between the period of 2018 to 2021

Land Burkina Faso celebrated in deferment, the 33rd^e African Statistics Day (JAS), under the theme: “Modernizing data ecosystems to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF): the role of official statistics and big data in the economic transformation and sustainable development of Africa. It was on the occasion of the second ordinary session of the year of the National Statistics Council (CNS), held on 1^is December 2023, in Ouagadougou.

The CNS is the national body which allows actors in the national statistical system, partners and data users to examine the major questions linked to the development of official statistics in the country, and to propose guidelines capable of addressing the major challenges facing the national statistical system. It is also a framework that offers the opportunity to share information on the results and successes achieved by the structures of the national statistical system.

This session of the CNS was devoted to the presentation of the second General Census of Agriculture (RGA 2) and the second Harmonized Survey on household living conditions (EHCVM 2).

An increase of 1.8 percentage points in the poverty index observed between 2018-2021

Indeed, the results of EHCVM 2 show that 43.2% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2021, compared to 41.4% in 2018. This might be explained by the impact of the security and humanitarian situation facing the country. Thus, the poverty threshold, which is the minimum amount that a person must spend on consumption per year to be considered not poor, increased from 194,629 FCFA in 2018 to 247,862 FCFA in 2021, an increase of 27.35 % (under the effect of inflation).

Concerning RGA 2, the first series of results of this operation concerns the inventories of processing units and marketing infrastructures, modern farms, fishing sites, as well as irrigated crop sites.

The session was chaired by the Minister of Economy, Finance and Foresight, Dr Aboubakar Nacanabo, who is also president of the CNS. He was represented by the mission manager, François Xavier Bambara. He praised the efforts of the actors who made it possible to achieve these results despite the difficulties. He also invited them to continue their commitment to making quality statistics available to users.

Celebration of the 33^e JAS

This meeting was also an opportunity to celebrate the 33^e JAS. This allowed the actors to focus on the theme of the day.

According to the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD), Boureima Ouédraogo, we must understand by big data all the massive data resulting from the information and communication technologies that we use. “Mobile phones, social networks, satellites mobilize enough data which today makes it possible to fill the information gap that we have and to replace activities such as surveys which are sometimes costly and make it possible to produce information fairly quickly “, he continued.

For him, JAS wants to invite countries to focus on these data sources, in order to produce alternative information to be able to make decisions.

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A donation of statistical work tools

Dn the framework of the Project for the Harmonization and Improvement of Statistics in West Africa (PHASAO), the World Bank donated work materials to stakeholders in the national statistical system. At a total cost of US$7,074,000, these include 600 computers, 3,382 tablets, 400 computer and statistical licenses and devices such as scanners and photocopiers.o

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