Section 5Sec./Art. 5

Philippine Statistics Authority. There shall be created a Philippine Statistics Authority, hereinafter referred to as the PSA, attached to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for purposes of policy coordination. It shall be comprised of the PSA Board and offices on sectoral statistics, censuses and technical coordination, civil registration and central support and field statistical services.

The PSA Board shall be the highest policy-making body on statistical matters. The data produced by the PSA shall be the official and controlling statistics of the government. The PSA shall be primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of selected administrative recording systems and compilation of the national accounts.

The PSA shall be constituted from among the existing personnel of the major statistical agencies engaged in primary data collection and compilation of secondary data, i.e., the National Statistics Office, herein referred to as the NSO; the Technical Staff of the National Statistical Coordination Board herein referred to as the NSCB; the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, herein referred to as the BAS; and the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, herein referred to as the BLES.

The Departmentof Economic Statistics of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will continue to take charge of banking and financial statistics, including the Balance of Payments (BOP) and flow of funds.