Statistics feature to macroeconomic policies: SBP

ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Kamran Shehzad Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan has said that the reliable and efficient statistics are basic ingredients for evolving effective monetary and macroeconomic policies.

He stated this while speaking at the inaugural session of a one-day seminar on "Contributions and Achievements of Official Statistics," which was organized by SBP at the National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF) here today.

He said that an efficient and up-to-date statistical system is of paramount importance for providing high quality statistics required for formulation and implementation of these policies

Kamran Shehzad observed that the development level of a country can be judged from the type and quality of statistics it produces.

`The official statistics plays a significant role in understanding economic conditions of an economy and is vital for formulation of policies for the development of a country,' he said and added that precise decisions always depend on up-to-date, efficient and timely statistics and quality of statistics can only be improved through collaboration among data producing agencies and other stakeholders.

He emphasized that a strong degree of coordination and interaction is required among statistical organizations and users of the statistics for an efficient statistical system of a country.

`The statistical organizations particularly need to work together to meet the increasing demand for statistics arising from the rapid changes in global environment', he added.

He 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 said and added that the users of the 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 Shehzad said 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 central 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 the 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 said that the Governor SBP has always taken keen interest in the development of the statistical system in Pakistan.

`I strongly believe 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 Shehzad expressed the hope that the seminar will create awareness about the significance of efficient statistics and improve coordination among the data producing agencies and users of statistics produced by these organizations.

The Secretary, Statistics Division, Asif Bajwa in his keynote address said that soon there will be a professional autonomous Pakistan Bureau of Statistics that will increase the credibility of data.

He said that a National Statistics Development Strategy (NSDS) is being developed to provide a strategy for strengthening statistical capacity across the entire national statistical system (NSS).

Mr. Bajwa expressed the hope that the seminar will increase awareness of the importance of good statistics and will lead towards enhanced cooperation and building trust on the statistics generated by the statistical organizations.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Azizullah Khattak, Director, Statistics & DWH Department, State Bank of Pakistan said that the main objective of the seminar is to provide a forum for developing future coordination and interaction among users and producers of statistics, which is essential for an efficient statistical system of a country.

He explained that SBP has always played an important role in coherent statistical system of Pakistan. He was proud to say that all the statistics produced by Statistics & DWH Department of State Bank of Pakistan are compliant with the General Data Dissemination System (GDD) and Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDD) which speak of the credibility of the data.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011