May 9, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1427

KARACHI, May 8: Pakistan in an era of globalisation cannot afford to ignore the importance adopting international standards in statistical system, said the Governor State Bank Dr Shamshad Akhtar on Monday.

She was addressing the opening session of the two-day workshop on “collaboration among data compilers and users”. The workshop is first in the series which the statistics department of State Bank is organising to enhance interaction among data compiling organisations and data consumers.

The governor said that in order to facilitate international comparison of statistics as well as to achieve efficiency and quality, international statistical standards and concepts needed to be followed in the production of official statistics.

Pakistan as a member of the international community has a responsibility at the national level to produce statistics that meet international standards, she said.

This is important both in terms of ensuring comparability of statistics across countries and providing reassurance to users that statistics meet acceptable standards of quality and consistency.

“With adoption of the international standards of quality and dissemination, Pakistan has now become a member of General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) of IMF,” said Dr Akhtar.

Adopting these standards would further enhance the credibility of “our statistics in the international community.” The objective of this workshop is to develop an informal coordination among the data producers and users for assuring the relevance of statistics produced by various statistical organisations.

Official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information systems of a democratic society, serving the government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic, social and environmental situations. To this end, official statistics that meet the test of practical utility’ are to be compiled and made available on an impartial basis by official statistical agencies to honour citizens’ entitlement to public information.

“Equal access to statistical information is one important aspect of the citizens’ rights in a functioning democratic system,” she said. The users can play the important role of providing their feedback to the extent to serve the purpose for which the information is produced, the governor said.

The government is very much aware of the central role statistical information play in informing and influencing the country’s efforts towards economic growth, wealth and employment creation. Statistical information helps in identifying the problem areas and in designing targeted interventions, monitoring and evaluating development programmes.

“The government, general public and the business community are interested in the reliable and timely data with comprehensive coverage,” said Dr Akhtar. The data providing agencies are, therefore, required to have trust of the public and should have a high degree of credibility, she said.