The Security Sector; consisting of military, policing,
justice and prison inputs, demands a large percentage of the state's annual
budgeted expenditure, and measures productive outputs in terms of; responding
to natural disasters, defusing plans of insurrection, monitoring and
controlling the borders, preventing and detecting murders, larcenies and other
crime statistics, the speed of resolutions, and the state of rehabilitation. In
other words, Productivity measured under this sector must provide safety for
the population and property, under an atmosphere of peace.
The Maintenance and Repair Service Sector; must keep capital
- existing infrastructure - and labour - service personnel - all functioning;
water and electricity plants and distribution, transportation, communication
and entertainment networks. It is this sector's interdependency that forms the
productivity baseline; an effective production measure enabling the establishment
of a benchmark or common point, against which performance improvements can be
determined and hence, setting the measure for economic growth or declines.
The Agri-Business Sector; requires the cultivation of farms;
arable lands, clean water, seeds, fertilizers, harvest equipment, animal feeds,
medications, fishing equipment, fresh market facilities and, of course,
downstream processing plants, essential for Food Security, must maintain its
competitiveness by training and employing the best skilled personnel and
state-of-the-art technology and techniques. This sector's objective is to
produce healthy and nutritious foods for both domestic and export markets,
noting its dependency on imports, generating foreign currencies becomes
mandatory.
The Construction Sector; requiring all the necessary inputs
to build housing and social facilities, such as; police stations, courts,
prisons, education, religious, hospitals, air and sea ports and industrial
parks, with expanding utilities networks, is extremely vital to match and keep
pace with population and development growth. To spite massive technological
changes within this very wide sector in recent times, it is still seen by many
as highly labour intensive, job creative, outsourcing tentative and investment
attractive, motivating a wide range of incentives to stimulate productive
economic activities.
The Trade Sector; measured by Consumer Price Index CPI or
Retail price Index RPI, the tracking of changes in a predetermined basket of
products identifying inflationary or deflationary trends, has a direct impact
on Productivity. Hence, reducing an international trade deficit is often
related to increases in production outputs. The same can result from
penetrating new markets with more advantageous trade agreements,
diversification into more export led industries and decreases imports as an
effect of buy local campaigns.
Whether caused by, lack of political will to implement
necessary but difficult executive changes that are guaranteed to cost future
votes, or by legislative gridlock blocking amendments to strengthen existing
laws. Failures, of the political party presently in power, will therefore mean
no diversification of the economy, no new revenue sources and a resulting slow
rate, if any, of sustainable development; will have all the people suffering.
Hence, like similar calls for an independent Auditor General, Public
Prosecution, Budgets, etc., this is a further call for a truly independent Statistical
office, headed by a director, elected directly by the people.
Rationale
T.A.J & Associates Company Limited uses this occasion to comment on topics that have been covered, both academically and by the mainstream media, to add its opinion and point out investment opportunity, not to invoke any social action.
