PHILIPSBURG:--- The Ministry of Economic Affairs through the Department of Statistics will launch its pilot project on Household Budget Survey (HBS) on February 15th, 2015. Minister of TEATT Claret Conner and the staff of the department of statistics said that the last HBS was done in 2005 while St. Maarten was part of the Netherlands Antilles. Minister Conner said that an HBS is supposed to take place every five year and the one that is about to commence now is the first since St. Maarten became a country. The main objective in conducting the HBS is for the department to reweigh the food basket. Sasika Thomas told media personnel at a press conference on Wednesday that some 1,500 households will be interviewed, these households she said was selected randomly. The process she said is expected to last some six to ten months and information will be gathered digitally. Thomas urged the selected households to cooperate fully with the interviewers since the information they are about to collect is essential for the department to reweigh the basket of goods. Households that will participate in the actual survey that is scheduled to begin in April 2015 will be asked some 350 questions, and some 11 questionnaires have to be filled out. Thomas said that each household interview will last approximately two weeks. She said households that participate in the survey will also have to fill in a log on their spending. Some of the questions that will be asked are the salaries that the members of the household receive, and basically how they spend their monies. Thomas admitted that some of the questions are intrusive but assured that the information gathered by the interviewers will not be compromised. She said that even the interviewers cannot change information on the questionnaires as long as they hit the save button on the "tablets" they will be using to conduct the interviews. Households will also be asked to provide receipts of the goods and other items they purchase, their rental contracts, GEBE bills and even proof on how they maintain their vehicles. When asked if the participants that are selected will be obliged to provide their correct names Thomas said that each entry will go by a number and participants can even provide the interviewers with a "fake" name in order to preserve their identity. When asked by SMN News if 1,500 households will provide accurate numbers based on the amount of persons living on St. Maarten Thomas said that they will get accurate data since there is a margin of error that they have to take into account. The survey she said is supposed to be completed by April 2016 but analysis of the figures and the actual reweighing of the basket will take a bit longer. Thomas further explained that the department chose to conduct the interviews digitally in order to cut down on time and most of all her staff will be editing and seeking clarification while these interviews are taking place. "We chose to do it this way because as we edit we will see if we need further clarity or if there are corrections to be made." The project will cost the Ministry some Naf. 420.000.00 which they said has been budgeted. The staff of the department of statistics said that most of the monies will be used to pay the interviewers.
Thomas said that the department begin training the interviewers as of Wednesday. She said that the pilot project will last a period of two weeks which will give the interviewers the opportunity to gain some experience in order to conduct the survey in April.