Past govt's data, stats very weak: Debapriya

White paper preparation committee holds 3rd meeting


FE REPORT | Published: September 18, 2024 00:06:53


Past govt's data, stats very weak: Debapriya


The white paper preparation committee on Tuesday said they indentified that the data and statistics available with the government were very weak.
"In many cases, the civil servants involved in the data estimation and publication were helpless or being forced to provide weak and non-credible statistics," Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, chief of the committee, told journalists.
"We've discussed this issue elaborately at a meeting today (Tuesday) with representatives from different government offices," he added.
"The representatives from different government offices have told us about their helplessness at our meeting today (Tuesday)."
After its 3rd meeting with the representatives from some 24 government agencies, Dr Debapriya, who leads the 12-member committee preparing a white paper on Bangladesh's economy, briefed journalists at the Planning Commission in the capital.
"We'll also discuss with the BBS on the statistical method on the gross domestic products (GDP) growth and the inflation. We've taken these two issues as the samples. We'll go in depth on both the estimation method and data delivery," he added.
When asked about the last government's intervention on public data, Dr Debapriya said they would not follow any specific government rather will search the method of data estimation.
"The data and statistics were sometimes problematic in the previous days. We'll search whether that has become more problematic or not. We will try to find out it," he added.
About the financial sector, Dr Debapriya said, "We will look after the banking, non-banking and other financial institutions. But, it is assumed that the committee which was formed by the central bank can go in-dept."
"The central banks formed the task forces. So, they will tell the method, process and their opinion on the financial sector. But, we will find out the extent of the problem and its characters," he added.
Economist Dr Selim Raihan, another member of the committee, said, "You should not expect any reform agenda from us, but we'll find out current status of the economy."
Dr Debapriya said: "We're actually finding out the ground zero. From a ground zero, the building construction will be possible. We will reflect at our report whether the estate will be built or not."
When asked about the findings of the report, he said: "It is not the right time to disclose the findings. You have to wait for some times because single information about any subject cannot be correct. We have to verify that."
Meanwhile, macroeconomic indicators were frequently shown to be healthy during the tenure of the Awami League-led government.
The central bank in July said export data for the first 10 months of the last fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 was inflated by nearly $10 billion due to multiple entries of export shipments by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
This prompted discussions among economists and business leaders, who said such errors would mean the countries' policies and even estimates of economic indicators were flawed.
Mr Debapriya told journalists after the meeting that all original contract documents and contracts including those for energy and power sector will be scrutinised.
The meeting was attended by representatives from 24 organisations, including Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC), Ministry of Agriculture.

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