The Treasury’s decision to cut Statistics SA’s budget by 13% has been described as irrational, regressive and a threat to investor confidence at a time when it is most needed.
The department reduced Stats SA’s budget by R400m to R2.1bn in May, leaving the institution with no choice but to compromise its staffing requirements. Stats SA will have to give up some of its field operations, the crux of data collection for some of the research they are required to produce.
The institution has also placed a moratorium on recruitment since September 2016, including for critical vacancies. "We are faced with a very untenable, difficult situation." Stats SA said.
Statistician-general Pali Lehohla said the 8% vacancy rate would probably increase as some workers, whose experience was irreplaceable, resigned. Business Day understands that workers at the department are anxious about possible retrenchments.
Parliament’s portfolio committee on public service and administration, performance, monitoring and evaluation warned of the effect the budget cut would have on the credibility of the institution’s data-collection capacity.
Lehohla told Business Day that it was bizarre that just months after the government moved the compilation of expenditure on the GDP to Statistics SA from the Reserve Bank, its resources were being limited.
Stats SA is responsible for measuring economic and societal trends with an effect on government planning and strategising.
Investors also considered its data, such as the consumer price index and other reports produced by the organisation before committing their funding to the country.
Lehohla said the budget cut was frustrating.
"Our dilemma is also that we are the worst hit and the question is why as the process has been irrational."
In his budget speech, planning, monitoring and evaluation minister Jeff Radebe said the cut was part of broader austerity measures implemented by government to curb costs.
Makhosi Khoza, chairman of the portfolio committee on public service and administration, said they planned to meet with the minister to see if the decision could not be reversed.
"We were looking at different budgets and the Stats SA cut didn’t make any sense, it looked like somebody just did a desktop thing and just cut without understanding the implication of the importance of credible data."
She said: "We are concerned that the statistician-general will be forced to retrench staff.
"While it takes a long time to fill the position of a statistician, we do not have a lot of them in the country. That compromises the credibility of data."
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