Experts yesterday expressed concern over the apparent lack of consistency of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic (BBS) data. “The BBS has become a lame institution due to the shortage of necessary officials and statisticians,” alleged the Prime Minister’s economic adviser, Dr Mashiur Rahman.  He was addressing a seminar—"Ribbing and Revision of GDP: Bangladesh Perspective"—organised by the planning ministry in the NEC conference room in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar

of the city. Farash Uddin, former governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB), and Mirza Mohammad Azizul Islam, former adviser to the caretaker government, also addressed the seminar.

A member of the General Economic Division (GED), Prof. Shamsul Alam, and planning secretary Ziaul Islam presided over the programme. Prof. Wahid Uddin Mahmud and S. Osmani, professor of Ulster University, UK presented the keynote paper.

Mashiur Rahman raised doubts about the quality of data given out by the BBS. “It’s quite impossible to become a developing country by 2021 and developed country by 2041 without quality information and data,” he said.

Mashiur Rahman said the BBS should be more active and act in a time-befitting way. It is necessary to prevent BBS errors by improving the quality of the statistics. “Investment in the informal sector must be considered,” he added.

Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said rising growth could be achieved even without increasing investment. For that, productivity would have to be increased, he noted.

“To improve efficiency, there has to be huge changes in the education sector. If general productivity and efficiency increase, it’ll be possible to achieve 8 per cent GDP growth by 2019,” he added.

The minister said increasing investment did not necessarily ensure growth, while better productivity certainly would.

“But in order to achieve the desired level of growth, radical changes must be brought about in the education system. The field should be widened for robotics and technology studies,” he added.

Mustafa Kamal said that changes in GDP base year need to be altered because a lot of new topics, including technology, Bkash and mobile banking, have been added to the economy.

These things should be included as GDP, he added.

Wahid Uddin Mahmud said: “There are three main factors in the economy of Bangladesh: continuously rising GDP growth, comparative per capita income, and a low maternal mortality rate.”

He also said that investment in education and healthcare sectors was very good compared to other countries. He further said that employment opportunities had to be increased to utilise the youth.

Dr Farash Uddin Ahmed welcomed the government’s decision to give importance to technical education. He also emphasised the importance of public private partnership (PPP).

He said poverty should be eradicated through extensive industrialisation. In this case, the importance of small and medium industries would be important, he noted.

Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam said numbers alone should not be the lone criterion for estimating demographic dividends; quality, too, must be considered. “We have to think how to reduce poverty and discrimination,” he added.

He also alleged that there were clear inconsistencies in the information and data provided by the BBS. “We need quality data to undertake any effective plan,” he said.