The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) is counting on businesses and other establishments in its upcoming Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) to build a credible database for economic planning.

The Service is urging businesses to assist GSS officials while assuring strict confidentiality under the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003) in conducting the economic census.

The survey’s comprehensive data, which will remain exclusive to the service, will inform policies to bolster Ghana’s economy and support business growth.

Phase two of the 2024 Ghana Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) will be the fourth conducted in Ghana.

The Ghana Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) is an economic census that seeks to enumerate all business units and establishments across all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

These targeted businesses are formal and informal economic units that engage in legal activities, irrespective of status and size.

The Ghana IBES aims to build an updated online business register, update the categorisation of businesses, profile the distribution of businesses by their firmographics, assess the worth of businesses, and determine changes in the structure of businesses over time.

Ashanti Regional Statistician Richard Sackey is courting the assistance of businesses to effectively conduct the survey.

“Businesses and establishments should cooperate. Once our officials show items, including ID cards and an introduction to prove, they should be assisted with the information they need. We will have further phone numbers for verification,’’ he said.

He assured that the service will heed its mandate and ethics to protect business data collected without compromise.

“For Ghana Statistical Service, we have the ACT 1003 which talks about confidentiality. It empowers us to enter an establishment to solicit data. The law also mandates us to keep the data from any individual or establishment confidential. It should be known to only the statistical service, and no external party is involved. The purpose is for credible data building,” he said.

The 2025 Ghana Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) is scheduled to last for two months, starting from the 10th of July, 2025.

In the Ashanti region, 226 field officers, including supervisors, have been taken through weeklong theory and practical data collection training and will be deployed for the exercise.

“We are admonishing the field agents to uphold the theoretical knowledge they have received. And apply them, being guided by the physical training they received. They should seek quality only. because the data will stimulate the direction of our economy, and we need quality data,” Mr Sackey said.

Director in charge of programmes, monitoring and evaluation at the Ghana Statistical Service, Emmanuel George Osei, indicated that the second phase is expected to study businesses operations for tailored policy enactment.

“This is the second phase, we are hoping to gather data about them to inform and plan policy decisions about businesses and establishments in the country. Their books of account will be studied, noting the number of staff, accounts, balances etc. so that we know how businesses are going in the country,” he said.