Finance minister, state minister find discrepancies in GDP figures
Several discrepancies have been found in the calculation of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) during the previous government’s tenure. A committee identified the inconsistencies through a forensic audit. The report will be published soon after being reviewed by experts.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and State Minister for Planning Md Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki made the remarks at a discussion held at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in Agargaon, Dhaka, on Sunday, marking National Statistics Day.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury was the chief guest at the event. Other special guests included the Prime Minister’s Political Adviser Zahir Uddin Swapan, Adviser to the Finance and Planning Ministry Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, and State Minister Md Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki.
The event was chaired by Md Firoz Sarkar, secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division. BBS Director General Md Shamimul Haque delivered the welcome address.
BBS Director Kabir Uddin Ahmad, Dhaka University professor Syed Shahadat Hossain and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Director General AK Enamul Haque also spoke at the meeting.
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said no meaningful work could be done using questionable statistics. Doing so was tantamount to deceiving oneself. Information was the government's most important asset. The government was therefore granting full independence to the BBS and was also considering its staff shortages.
The finance minister further said the forensic audit had been conducted to investigate past irregularities in depth, not to target anyone. The more information was made publicly available, the more errors and inconsistencies would come to light, creating opportunities for corrections.
The importance of data and digital infrastructure was increasing further in the age of artificial intelligence, he added.
Prime Minister's Political Adviser Zahir Uddin Swapan said scientifically generated data carried considerable weight. Accurate statistics could play an important role in the country's development planning and policymaking.
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, adviser to the Finance and Planning Ministry, said an attempt had been made during the previous government's tenure to construct a particular narrative using statistics.
Reviews of past data had revealed inconsistencies in various areas, including GDP calculations, he stated.
According to him, there were also widespread discrepancies in social safety net programme data. Many of those who were supposed to receive assistance had been left out, he said.
Titumir said the number of water vessels in the country had previously been reported at 13,000. However, a review found that the actual figure was 267,000. Initiatives were being taken to introduce digital register exchanges to address such discrepancies. He added that a kind of hybrid war involving misinformation was currently underway.
State Minister Md Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki said it was impossible to understand where the country stood, where it wanted to go or where things were going wrong without accurate information. The government had therefore taken initiatives to restore public confidence in statistics.
He said a forensic audit had been conducted on statistics compiled during the previous government. The review found significant discrepancies in the GDP figures that had earlier been questioned. Evidence of these inconsistencies had also been found.
The state minister further said the BBS was now publishing various statistics, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI), on its own, without requiring the minister's signature.