Nossos serviços estão apresentando instabilidade no momento. Algumas informações podem não estar disponíveis.

Interview: Roberto Olinto talks about the challenge of heading IBGE

Section: IBGE

August 22, 2017 09h00 AM | Last Updated: September 04, 2017 09h21 AM

Census of Agriculture, Consumer Expenditure Survey - POF, integration of administrative records and creation of a National System of Information. These are the main challenges that the new President of the IBGE, Roberto Olinto Ramos, two months on duty, will face in his administration.

Raised in Copacabana and living in Lagoa, 64-year old Olinto is married with journalist Amélia. He has three children, one granddaughter and two stepdaughters. Since 1980 at the IBGE, Olinto took over the Directorate of Surveys in August 2014.

In our interview, which will be divided into a series of four editions, he talked about this and other subjects, and unveiled that he had never thought of heading the IBGE.

IBGE News Agency - Did you expect to be appointed to the IBGE Presidency?

Roberto Olinto - I have never asked for a position at the IBGE. I don´t think career growth is a need. To be the President of the IBGE, I have never thought much about this, as I always worked in the technical area. Recently, when Paulo [Rabello de Castro, former President of the IBGE] was appointed to the BNDES, the likelihood of an appointment was clear. But I hadn´t much time to think. I had one day. It was very fast. And there is still a lot of things to do at the Directorate of Surveys, though we have a great person there [social scientist Claudio Crespo].

Agency - What are the challenges that you will have to face at the IBGE Presidency?

Olinto - There are some very clear challenges. We have two major operations: POF and the Census of Agriculture, the latter with restricted budget and that must be carefully planned. We have a tight schedule. Although the Census questionnaire was reduced, it doesn´t mean that we have solved all the problems.

But I think that the main challenge of the IBGE is to take advantage of this moment to achieve a modernization leap. Not in a way of changing old things to new things, but to adapt to what the statistical offices are now working all over the world, which is using administrative records to produce information.

Agency – What does it mean?

Olinto – It means integrating the different producers of information. There are government offices that produce information and, in some cases, this information is either duplicated or not used, or it is even not available. So, there is a whole modernization process of the information system. In Brazil, the IBGE would be the coordinator and we plan to call the producers to discuss the project of a National System of Information.

Agency – Can you use an example?

My typical and obsessive example is that of the tax information in Brazil. We ask a company the same thing twice, the IBGE and the Federal Revenue. For example, civil registry records must also be released. We must begin to think about the integration of environmental issues. We must develop information that allows us to go deeply in state and municipal issues.

That is to say, you may have some producers of information, but their data are not integrated in a network. The idea is that this information be public and open in a network where persons are oriented to search this information.

Agency – Would the IBGE be the manager of the National System of Information?

Olinto – The role of the IBGE is that of coordinating it. Other issues could be included in a discussion forum. The organization, responsibilities and frontiers, they are part of a whole process. Today we have the sustainable development indicators as an opportunity to discuss it in Brazil. It is a good opportunity to start the information system, a good moment to discuss this.

Agency – Are the administrative records reliable in Brazil?

Olinto – Yes, the Brazilian administrative records are reliable. The problem is to release their access, protect their confidentiality and the privacy of their informants. But, I say it again, it is nonsense the IBGE ask a company things already asked by the government.  It is a discussion that must be considered in a clearer way, in the sense that, if we want to improve it, fiefdoms cannot be maintained.

Agency – Is the budget of the Census and POF secured for the next year?

Olinto – The information I have is that the government considers the Census of Agriculture a key operation, as it involved an investment of about R$500 million this year and it is a sound operation that Brazil needs a lot. I can´t imagine they will ignore it is underway and there will be no budget for it.

The academic area, the producers, which involves the agribusiness, they are all concerned with the Census, as well as a number of other chains that use this information. The social area is concerned as well, since the Census will cover family farming, which is extremely important. The persons are already aware that the Census will evolve into an information system, the so-called National System of Agricultural Surveys, which will allow to produce sampling surveys, based on the register being developed by the Census. It is an advance in the area of agricultural surveys.

Agency – Is there any change in relation to the discussions that took place after the release of the first editions of the questionnaire of the Census of Agriculture, more reduced than in the previous Census?

Olinto – The questionnaire began in an embryonic way. It was subject to discussion, not only internally at the IBGE, but also among other users. It was gradually enhanced, with the discussion whether some information would be included or not. It was considered that some questions could be detailed in a further survey. As we had a schedule, we could not keep the questionnaire open for a long time. Planning it, coding the system, loading images, counting households, hiring personnel, all this involves a tight schedule. We are now in the operation phase, ready to carry the Census out.

Agency – We are coming from a moment in which the IBGE systematically suffered budget cuts, precluding major operations. It was the case of the Population Count, which was not carried out in 2015. The Census of Agriculture was put off, so did POF. Is there any way to ensure the periodicity of these surveys? Are you thinking of anything in this way?

Olinto – This is an eternal problem at the IBGE, it is not a new one. There are many ways to deal with this situation. To me, the most interesting thing to do is to establish a statistical plan in Brazil that clearly defines – though clear definitions are always dubious, as the Census would not get a budget by law – the major operations.

Another way is to advance with the system, through cheaper and more intense operations. An example are the surveys made with companies after 1990, when we quit the Economic Census and began to develop the annual surveys, like those in industry, trade and services. I am not saying this is the solution, but a way to be reflected upon.

The disapproval of the budget of the Population Count seriously affects the population estimate, which needed the Population Count, as well as the distribution of the Municipal Revenue Sharing Fund - FPM. Certain major operations are not only needed to portray Brazil, but also to subsidize sound political decisions, like the revenue sharing fund.

Agency – And the arrangements for the 2020 Census?

Olinto – They have already begun. The budget to start the organization of the operation is already being discussed. I do not believe there will be a delay. In addition to the importance of the Population Census for Brazil, it is one of the few information that covers the municipality level, among other reasons. Today, there are international commitments on the sustainable development. Therefore, the obvious need to have a Population Census does not allow many questions. Whatever the budget of the Census is, it is cheap for what it brings.   The amount of information and the possibility of understanding this country are much bigger. I think it is inconceivable not having a Census.

Interview: Diana Paula de Souza
Collaboration: Luiz Bello and Karina Meirelles (trainee)
Photos: Licia Rubinstein



Page 1 of 93