National statistician

Koloma noted an average annual growth of 9.4 percent.

This means there were a lot of economic activities, increased jobs and a thriving economy.

GDP is the total value of everything produced by all the people and companies in the country.

Gross domestic product is the best way to measure a country's economy.

The level of GDP increased from K25.4 billion in 2006 to K47.5 billion in 2013, revealed Koloma.

The increase was mainly driven by agriculture, forestry and fishing while wholesale and retail trade industries reliably aided this growth as well.

This was reiterated by the National Statistic Office at the first Data Stock Taking Workshop in Port Moresby.

National statistician Roko Koloma said there is a need to look at the National Statistical System.

“There is a need for us to ask a lot of serious questions on how we can approach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and we need to look seriously at where these indicators are going to come from.”

He stressed the importance of seeking advice and help from the different development partners and start building that capacity.