State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Muhammad Kamran Shehzad has stated that reliable and efficient statistics are basic ingredients for determining effective monetary and macroeconomic policies.
Speaking at the inaugural session of a one-day seminar on “Contributions and Achievements of Official Statistics,” organised by the SBP at the National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF) in Islamabad on Tuesday, he said an efficient and up-to-date statistical system was of paramount importance for providing high quality statistics required for formulation and implementation of these policies
Shehzad observed that the development level of a country can be judged from the type and quality of statistics it produces. “The official statistics play a significant role in understanding economic conditions of an economy and are vital for formulation of policies for the development of a country,” he said and added that precise decisions always depend upon up-to-date, efficient and timely statistics and their quality can only be improved through collaboration among data producing agencies and other stakeholders.
He emphasised that a strong degree of coordination and interaction is required among statistical organisations and users of the statistics for an efficient statistical system of a country. “The statistical organisations particularly need to work together to meet the increasing demand for statistics arising from the rapid changes in global environment’, he added.
He further said that the Government of Pakistan, general public and business community are interested in the reliable and timely data with comprehensive coverage. “The data providing agencies are therefore, required to have trust of the public and should enjoy a high degree of credibility”, he expressed. He highlighted that the users of these statistics should be fully aware of the procedures under which the statistics have been prepared and should also know about the limitations of data regarding its scope and coverage.
Kamran mentioned that the State Bank has always played its role in compiling and disseminating timely and reliable statistics on economic, financial and monetary aspects most pertinent to the bank. He said that a variety of data on important areas related to money, banking, international trade, monetary accounts, balance of payments, exchange rates, external reserves, foreign investment and external debt is generated in line with the international recommendations and standards. “All statistics are compiled and disseminated according to international standards and comply with the requirements of General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS),” he added.
He indicated that the Governor SBP has always taken keen interest in the development of the statistical system in Pakistan. “I strongly believe that his continuous support for the statistical activities undertaken by SBP will go a long way in the production of quality statistics by SBP,’ he added.
Kamran expressed the hope that the seminar will create awareness about the significance of efficient statistics and improve coordination among data producing agencies and users of statistics produced by these organisations.
Secretary Statistics Division Government of Pakistan Asif Bajwa in his keynote address said that there will be a professional autonomous Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) soon, which would help enhance the credibility of data.
He said that a National Statistics Development Strategy (NSDS) is being developed to provide a plan for strengthening statistical capacity across the entire national statistical system (NSS).
