Rampant inadequacy and discrepancy in data and evidence are hindering effective policymaking in Bangladesh, sometimes resulting in outcome mismatches, experts observed Saturday.
And a government policy adviser, attending the same function where they made such observations, pointed out inadequacies in the government statistical bureau itself for lack of well-groomed statisticians.
"In the Bureau of Statistics, you would be lucky to find a statistician. Most of them understand statistics as summing up whatever data they have and dividing it by the number of observations they have," said Prime Minister's Economic Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman who attended the event as chief guest.
Country's leading think-tank 'Policy Research Institute' organized the event on the occasion of the launching of a book entitled 'Evidence Based Policy Making in Bangladesh'.
On a note of caution, the experts said when policymaking is based on populist notions or anecdotes that could result in more harm than good and potentially cause long-term damage to the economy and society.
As a remedy, they called for greater synthesizing of various data sources and capacity building of the relevant government agencies, including the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The Economic Adviser was also critical about lack of training and orientation of the Planning Cadre officials of the government.
"Planning Commission recruits Planning Cadre officers who do not have to have studied economics, statistics or relevant fields. It has been declared a generalist cadre," Mr Mashiur said.
"So, they may have studied anthropology, or Islamic history or Indian history or ancient European history. Same is the story with Bureau of Statistics," he quipped.
"But if we want to become a higher-middle-income or a developed country, we need to have very strong professional expertise to carry out our policies," opined Mashiur, who himself is a former top bureaucrat.
"But over time, we have reduced the competence level of our government officials at various levels," he told the meet.
Speakers at the event also noted high discrepancy in import or export figures between Bangladesh Bank, the Export Promotion Bureau and the National Board of Revenue.
"Therefore, to carry out a good research in our country, it is critical to synthesize various data," said eminent Economist Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud.
Citing the recent pre-budget argument about uniform VAT Act as an example, Mahmud said any such potential move from the government should be backed up by data.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith had proposed a uniform 15 per cent VAT on all products and services for the next three years in his budget proposal for 2017-18 fiscal. However, after much argument and strong opposition from various quarters, the proposal was postponed.
"Before coming up with such schemes, Government should have come out with some clear projections about what could be the possible impact at consumer level or for the business entities," Mahmood said.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of PRI Dr Zaidi Sattar said that policies are better when formulated on the basis of good data and sound research.
"Despite all the governance failures, our economy is so dynamic and it is growing at 7 per cent. And this is because of the exceptional role played by the private sector," Dr Sattar said.
"I think there is a room for the private sector in contributing to evidence-based policymaking by sharing information about how they do their business." "However," he added, "it is a challenging task to gain access to such data."
Speakers at the seminar also discussed various aspects of the book which has been authored by Dr Sadiq Ahmed, Vice President of PRI.
The book has identified three critical areas of policymaking: growth and job creation; poverty, and income distribution; and building institution.
Executive Director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development Dr Mustafa K. Mujeri in his speech said, "For effective policymaking, policymakers should know what evidence is available, how to gain access to those evidences and how to critically appraise them."
There should be increased communication between research and policy works, he added.
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