The reaction of the president of Statistics, after Ciolacu accused the institution of “the grossest manipulation”
President of INS Tudorel Andrei, Photo: Inquam Photos / George Călin
In a message posted on Facebook after the verdict of the National Institute of Statistics, the former PSD Prime Minister accuses that the data from 2024 were “made up”. of Statistics. “After two years, they set the dates for 2024, turning economic growth into recession just to try to fade the economic disaster from Bolojan's mandate!”, writes Marcel Ciolacu.
He talks about “the grossest manipulation of Statistics, which demonstrates the desperation of the current prime minister” Also, the former prime minister says that “I am convinced, however, that Romanians can no longer be fooled by numbers”.
In a short time came the reaction of the INS, which says that the revisions comply with the European methodology. Also, the INS press release talks about “the introduction of a new observation in the time series, – in the present case, the GDP value related to the fourth quarter – which causes the recalculation in this application of the entire seasonally adjusted series”. This process leads to the updating of the quarterly (QoQ) and annual (YoY) growth rates, published in the aforementioned press release, the INS also says.
Finally, the Statistics also show that such revisions “can also be identified in the press releases of other countries”
What the INS transmits
We reproduce below the position of the Statistics regarding the criticism brought by the former Prime Minister Ciolacu:
“The seasonally adjusted data series, which is the basis for the calculation of GDP growth rates, was made using the JDemetra+ application, according to the European methodological practices in force.
The introduction of a new observation in the time series – in the present case, the GDP value related to the fourth quarter – causes the recalculation of the entire seasonally adjusted series in this application. This process leads to the update of the quarterly (QoQ) and annual (YoY) growth rates published in the said release.
The revisions appearing at the level of some quarters from previous years (in this case, the year 2024) represent a technical effect of the seasonal adjustment process and do not involve changing the gross values of the GDP related to the respective periods.
Such revisions as those presented in the release may also be identified in the press releases of other countries.
In the methodological clarifications attached to the cited press release, the calculation stages of the seasonally adjusted data are mentioned”
