Experts Recommend Amending Statistics Act to Ensure Accurate GDP Data

Experts have recommended amending and updating the "Statistics Act, 2013" to legally obligate data-providing institutions to supply high-quality statistics for gross domestic product (GDP) compilation. The recommendations also include implementing the expert task force committee’s report to strengthen the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), rationalizing promotions and career progression for BBS officials, increasing statistical investment, and conducting regular surveys. 

These suggestions were made on Saturday (June 20) during a stakeholder meeting at the Parishankhyan Bhaban conference room. The discussion focused on the compilation of GDP, Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation, and the Wage Rate Index (WRI), organized under the project "Development of Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (QGDP) and District Gross Domestic Product (DGDP)" implemented by the National Accounting Wing of BBS.

The meeting was attended by State Minister for Planning Zonaed Saki, Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Md. Firoz Sarkar, Executive Chairman of PPRC Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman, Director General of BIDS Dr. A K Ennamul Haque, and Director General (Acting) of BBS Mohammad Obaidul Islam. During the session, National Accounting Wing Deputy Directors Swajon Haider and Tofael Ahmed presented on CPI, WRI, inflation measurement, and quarterly GDP compilation methodologies.

In his speech, State Minister for Planning, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, stated that presenting the true economic picture to the public is a democratic and humanitarian responsibility of the government. Therefore, the government will form two specialized technical committees to review and modernize the methodologies used to calculate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI). These proposed committees will recommend modern methods in line with international standards, which will help increase the reliability of key economic indicators used in policymaking and development planning. One committee will review the methodology for calculating CPI, the primary measure of inflation. The other committee will examine GDP calculation methods, including the quality and reliability of secondary data collected from various institutions.

The event was moderated by Md. Shahabuddin Sarkar, Director (Acting) of the National Accounting Wing, BBS. Economists and policymakers emphasized the formation of a technical committee to make BBS data compilation practices more authentic and modernized, which will significantly benefit national planning and policy formulation.

//DBTech/ZU/EK//