Rebuilding of the National Statistical System of Argentina. Some lessons learned1

Abstract

From 2007 to 2015, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) of Argentina underwent damaging political interventions, which undermined the institution and the quality of its products and services, leading to a widespread distrust of the official statistics of the country. In January 2016, a presidential Decree declared a state of administrative emergency in the National Statistical System (NSS), allowing the recently appointed Director General of INDEC, to reorganise the agency and the NSS. To this end, INDEC authorities implemented several strategic, legal and operational actions in order to recover and develop the statistical capacity. The modernisation of the statistical legislation represented an important objective of this process and a draft law was prepared drawing especially on the Generic Law on Official Statistics (UNECE), the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UN), and the OECD Recommendation on Good Statistical Practice. This paper presents the main actions taken to recover the Argentinian statistical system, and derives the lessons learned.