CHITTAGONG, Sept 18: The country's per capita income has now increased to US$ 1,190 from $ 759 in the year 2008-09, and poverty rate has come down to 25.6 per cent in June 2014 from 48.9 in 2000.
Ministry of Planning (MoP) Additional Secretary Md Azizur Rahman said these while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop on the National Strategy for Development of Statistics (NSDS) at the Circuit House, Chittagong.
Chittagong district administration and Statistics and Informatics Department jointly organised the workshop. Hundreds of field-level officials from various government departments attended it.
Additional divisional commissioner of Chittagong Syeda Sarwar Jahan addressed the programme as the special guest. Deputy commissioner of Chittagong Mesbah Uddin chaired the function.
Deputy secretary and NSDS programme director Md Oliullah presented the keynote paper. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) joint director and in-charge of Divisional Statistics Office in Chittagong Md Abdul Kadir Mian gave the welcome address.
The workshop was also addressed by Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mahbubul Alam and Raozan Upazila chairman Ehsanul Haider Chowdhury Babul.
The MoP additional secretary in his speech emphasised the accuracy of primary data collection as well as concerted efforts of common people and field-level government officials in ensuring the accuracy.
The data and information on different issues provided by BBS have been highly appreciated and accepted by the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in different forums, he also said.
Bangladesh has advanced a lot towards achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs) over the last few years. The post-MDGs 2015 development programmes are highly important, and to achieve the goals a new data revolution is welcome. Preparing and updating a national coordinated database is one of the major challenges, he added.
Syeda Sarwar Jahan said access to correct information is one of the basic rights of the people. Morbidity rate has declined remarkably over the years, but there are some sectors which need to be improved, she also said.
Mesbah Uddin said statistics is very vital for planning the development activities of a nation, and NSDS is the demand of the era.
The keynote speaker focussed on the importance of statistics, and said NSDS is prepared for Vision 2021, five-year plan (FYP) and perspective plan.
