National Statistics Office

Directorate B: Business Statistics

Unit B2: Short-term Statistics

National Statistics Office, Lascaris Valletta, VLT 2000, Malta

The classifications used in STS is NACE rev.2

The KInd of activity unit is observed for the construction indicators.

120 kind of activity units are observed and the sample was extracted form the Business Register.

The Maltese Islands

The data is available from 2000.

2010

The data is presented in index form.

The data is collected and disseminated on a quarterly basis.

The NSO was established by virtue of the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000 and replaced the Central Office of Statistics as from 1 March 2001. http://www.nso.gov.mt/docs/MaltaStatisticsAuthorityAct.pdf

The legal basis for the STS indicators is the Council Regulation No 1165/98

The National Statistics Office (NSO) holds and processes various data that are confidential because they are either personal or commercially sensitive. The Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000 provides for the rigorous protection of personal and commercial data.

Data is only disseminated to Eurostat.

Confidentiality matters are regulated by the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000.

Confidential data is not disseminated, unless to Eurostat as per regulation and flagged as such. In the press release indices relating to activities with three or less units are regarded as confidential and are suppressed or amalgamated with other NACE Divisions.

All releases are published and disseminated at 1100 hrs as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar. The calendar is published on the NSO website (http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/news_release_calendar.aspx) and includes a 3 month advance notice (the current month and the forthcoming two months).

An advance release calendar is published on the NSOs website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/news_release_calendar.aspx

National statistical releases are issued according to the release calander and are made available to all users simultaneously. All releases are posted on the organisations website, www.nso.gov.mt.

transmissions to Eurostat for this variable occur every 3 months 15 days. The frequency of transmission is on a quarterly basis.

No local news release is published on the construction indicators.

The short-term statistics only publishes its figures in an annual compendum named Malta in Figures.  The publication can also be accessed from NSOs website by making use of the following link http://nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=142

The NSO website also offers an online statistical database (StatDB) that provides a more in-depth analysis for the more expert statistical user or researcher. The StatDB requires a registration as only registered users can extract data from the database. Registration is free-of-charge and is required to  allow the NSO to receive important feedback from the more expert users of official statistics. Each data set has a ‘last updated’ date clearly indicated andsimilar data published in other statistical products may not add up due to revisions/updates.

In general, index results made available to Eurostat  ensure a sufficient degree of representativeness of data. In limited cases, when confidentiality clauses are not within the remit of the Malta Statistical Authority Act (2000) or Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009, data is flagged confidential.

No data on individual statistical units is provided.

Data is provided to Eurostat.

Construction indicators were developed by making use of the following document, Methodology of Short-term business statistics, Interpretaion and guidelines, 2006 Edition. The index was also developed according to Regulation EC No 1165/98, as amended by Regulation EC No 1158/2005 and the regulations implementing and amending these two instruments. In addition, Furthermore, with every release methodological notes are disseminated. 

Not available.

The NSO quality assurance principles are developed according to the ESS Handbook for Quality Reports (2008) and an internal document, Policy on the Documentation of Data Quality and Methodology. The latter is published on the NSOs website, http://nso.gov.mt/docs/Documentation_of_data_quality_and_methodology.pdf

Each unit within the NSO is responsible to produce data of the highest quality. Each unit is responsible to produce statistics which is relevant, accurate, coherent and accessable. The handbook, Policy on the Documentation of Data Quality and Methodology, provides insights to both compilers of data and users on the various quality measures embedded within the NSO. Furthermore, the NSOs Methodology and Research Unit has multiple roles such as providing assistance regarding methodolological issues apart from carrying out statistical checks and balances.

No particular problems are identified in the construction indicators.

The spectrum of users of short-term statistics is widespread and therefore it is difficult to identify them in order of importance. Amongst the various one, finds the government with particular reference made to the Ministry of Finance, other governmental departments such as the Economic Policy Division. Other institutions such as the Central Bank of Malta make frequent reference to the data this unit publishes. The general business community and educational institutions also make use of our statistical indicators.

Not available.

Data are compliant with relevant Europan and local regulations

The overall accuracy of variable B-230 is considered to be of good quality.

Coefficient of variation (2.06%)

Non-sampling errors are a consequence of any surveying method and are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to measure. In general, these errors are the result but are not limited to problems such as under or over coverage, non-response, data-processing, estimation and analysis. Most often such errors are grouped into two cohorts: random or systematic errors.

Non respondents are estimated.

Data for variable B-230 is published according to EU regulations. The reference period is at least quarterly and transmission deadlines occur every 3 months and 15 days.

All deadlines were respected with reference to construction indicators.

To ensure geographical comparability across member states the index is compiled according to the STS regulation and STS methodological guidelines. Minor methodological deviations may exist due to specific conditions that apply to each member state.

The data series has been compiled since the year 2000. The first set of indicators were based on NACE Rev 1. Following 2009 the indicator was published according to the new NACE Rev 2 classification. Furthermore, for every year ending in 0 or 5 new fixed aggregation weights are introduced.

Data is checked on an annual bases using administrative sources.

Not applicable.

The cost for NSO is one statistician working on the construction indicatotors for 60 hours a year.

Revisions are carried according to regulation No1165/98. Internal procedures are also established and are published in the  document, Revisions of official Statistics published on the NSO website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=582

Data is not considered of having a large amount of revisions.  

the sample is made up of 120 units.

The frequency of data collection is quarterly.

Data is collected by means of  a statistical questuionnaire. Questionnaires are sent by post and their collection can be done via post, fax, e-mail or online systems

Data is validated through regular checks throughout the system lifecycle being during data input stage, data processing and analysis stage. Various analytical checks are executed by our statisticians while other validations are in-built in our data systems.

The basic checks prior transmission are done: file format, code lists and consistency.

To compile construction indicators the Laspeyres index is used and the base year used is 2010.

Unadjusted, Calendar, Seasonal and  Trend adjustments are produced.

Not available.