Bangladesh working on transparent data management: Saki

The State Minister for Planning of Bangladesh, Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki, on Monday said that the government is working to establish a transparent, reliable and modern data management system to support evidence-based policymaking and accelerate the country’s development process.

“We want to ensure maximum transparency in data management and make information more accessible for research and policymaking,” he said.

Saki was addressing an event on ‘Stakeholder Sensitization Workshop on Microdata Analysis Lab of BBS’ at the NEC Conference Room in the capital city of Dhaka.

The workshop was organised under the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)-supported Capacity Building of Statistics Services Based on Platform (CBSSP) project.

Zonayed Saki said the government is taking steps to strengthen the country’s statistical system so that development planning, implementation and evaluation are based on accurate and dependable information.

He noted that questions had been raised in the past regarding the reliability of certain data and statistics.

To address those concerns, he said, the government is working to build a system where there is no scope for manipulation in the collection, analysis and publication of data.

“The government wants to ensure that decisions on important issues such as GDP, poverty, population, economic census and social protection programmes are taken on the basis of credible information,” he said.
The state minister said quality data are essential for measuring development progress, identifying policy gaps and determining necessary corrective actions.
Highlighting ongoing reforms, he said, the government is formulating a policy on data use to facilitate wider access to information while safeguarding privacy and security,  reports BSS.