The consultants, government officials and a National Assessment Team comprised of a wide cross-section of individuals, will form the group responsible for the assessment.

In outlining the need for the statistical exercise the Honourable Victor Banks  called on statements made previously, “The lack of natural resources and the dependence on good economic and social policies for sustainable development mandates accuracy and precision in our decision making. The goal of creating the environment for sustainable standards of living for our people demands proper policy making and macroeconomic management informed by sound statistical information”, said Banks.  He further went on to state that “Statistics developed without careful attention to accuracy or applied without regard to other relevant factors can lead to the wrong conclusions --- and as a consequence wrong policies”.

According to Banks, one may reach the conclusion that Anguilla does not have any poverty if an assessment is performed that is based solely on wages or salaries. However a different conclusion may be derived if inflationary costs are considered. He paid particular note to the current reports of evictions as a result of increasing rents and the increasing need for citizens to take on multiple jobs to meet increasing costs. "There is a real challenge and concern that social development has not kept pace with the rapid economic growth which we are experiencing. "

His speech in its entirety may be found online