Economic Census: NSO says some businesses refused to provide information

KATHMANDU: Several industrial and commercial establishments have refused to provide information for the Economic Census 2082, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Monday.

The NSO said some businesses declined to cooperate since they did not receive prior notice, while others raised concerns about the confidentiality of the data collected. The office said that information revealing individual or institutional identity will not be made public and will be handled under the Statistics Act, 2079 BS.

Chief Statistician at the NSO, Dr Kamal Prasad Pokhrel, urged all concerned not to withhold information and warned that refusing to provide data amounts to a criminal offence. The NSO said the collected details will be kept confidential in accordance with the law.

Deputy Chief Statistician and spokesperson Dhundi Raj Lamichhane said information on establishments that initially refused to share data was later obtained with special support from local authorities.

The deadline for on-site data collection was 21 June, but district economic census offices will continue operations through the end of June. For the national census, 3,907 enumerators and 526 supervisors were mobilised.

So far, the NSO has received details for about 1.3 million industries, professional organisations and establishments through paper questionnaires and the e-census system. During the first economic census in 2075 BS, officials collected information on 923,356 industrial establishments nationwide.