PSA fixing 'tech issues' after delayed release of inflation data
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority on Wednesday said it is “addressing technical and hardware issues” after the official release of much-awaited August inflation data last week was delayed by more than an hour.
In a statement, the PSA explained its webserver was not able to cope with the high volume of users accessing the website, thus, making it temporarily inaccessible on September 5.
Aside from the consumer price index for August, the PSA also released on September 5 the labor and manufacturing growth data for the month of July.
“We assure everyone that the PSA adheres to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, including independence, integrity and compliance to statistical standards,” the government’s statistics agency said.
“More importantly, the PSA is addressing technical and hardware issues to ensure continuous provision of its information services over the Internet,” it added.
Inflation rose for the eighth consecutive month to 6.4 percent in August, the fastest pace since the 6.6 percent posted in March 2009. The latest inflation print exceeded both government and market estimates.
"Any different figure reported to the public is not from PSA," the agency said.
NEDA chief: No data manipulation
Last week, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia reportedly denied speculations that the government manipulated the August CPI data.
According to a report by Inquirer, the PSA submitted to Pernia an “initial” 6.6 percent August inflation data. Pernia reportedly saw an “overcalculation,” prompting the PSA to correct its computation.
“It’s normal that the PSA’s first data releases are preliminary—in effect, subject to revisions. This applies to national income accounts such as gross domestic product, consumer price index, producer price index, monthly integrated survey of selected industries and labor force survey, etc.,” Pernia was quoted as saying.
“We just thought it prudent and not necessary to announce it as it might only lead to confusion among the public, especially those unfamiliar with standard procedures,” he added. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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