New data sharing project to support business innovation, transparency in the Caribbean - IMF

WASHINGTON, Jun 8, CMC - The World Bank says St. Lucia is the first country in the Caribbean making government data easily and freely accessible online.



The Washington-based financial institution said St. Lucia has joined a new open data initiative, which will provide technical assistance and build capacity for countries to open priority data sets, including budget data.



“Statistics tell the story of people and can play an important role in making policies more effective and accountable, boosting citizen’s engagement, and even generating innovation and local entrepreneurship in the region,” said Sophie Sirtaine, World Bank country director for the Caribbean.



Sirtaine said the number of countries with open data programmes has grown rapidly over the last few years. She said more than 40 countries have now open government data sites in the world.



However, she added that only one Caribbean nation scores above 35 per cent in the International Budget Partnership Open Budget Index, which monitors budget transparency across the world, and few Caribbean nations currently publish budget data on their websites.



“We are glad to support Caribbean countries in this important area of open data and open budget data, and look forward to fruitful results in two years of important data sets that have been made available online,” said Hugh Walker, head of United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Caribbean.



The World Bank said this new regional initiative is supported by a grant from the DFID, the World Bank and its Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building.



The project will also partner with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and other regional organizations working in the Open Data area, the bank said.



It said St. Lucia is starting this week an Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA).



The bank said a pilot assessment in Antigua and Barbuda was completed in July 2013 and discussions are ongoing with several countries in the region to roll-out the initiative.



“This project is starting to sow the seeds to allow us to make information available,” said Dr. James Fletcher, St. Lucia’s Minister of Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology.



“It is about making data available to the general public so that they can come up with their own conclusions on whether Government agencies are performing in a way we should be performing,” he added.



Open government data refers to opening non-sensitive statistics held by governments and making them freely available for re-use by the public.



Open data has also proven to be extremely valuable for private companies in other countries where weather, traffic and real estate data have generated sizeable businesses and services, the World Bank said.



It said research shows that agriculture in the U.S. benefited from US$19 billion a year from open geospatial and GPS data.



“Opening data on government budgets and spending through ‘open budgeting’ is improving efficiency and increasing citizen participation and accountability,” said the World Bank, adding that the UK estimated a potential overall economic benefit of £6.8 billion (One British pound =US$1.68 cents) a year from open data.



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