Friday, September 18, 2009


Building Capacity to Develop the Statistical System of Bangladesh
 
 
Realizing the importance of building the capacity of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to monitor economic growth and employment, the World Bank is supporting the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) to develop the national statistical system of the country. The Technical Assistance Project on Capacity Building of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has initiated a three-stage process to help Bangladesh meet the demand for quality data.

The Economic Management Technical Assistance Project (EMTAP) funded by the World Bank is implementing the first stage of the initiative with a grant of approximately $1.6 million. This is supporting the BBS’s effort to improve the data quality in a limited number of priority areas. The key areas selected for the improvement of data quality are: (i) Living standards monitoring survey, (ii) Monitoring of trends in employment, (iii) Improvement of the national accounts and basic economic indicators, (iv) Environmental statistics, and (v) Gender statistics.

The project will help meet the need of GOB, BBS and other data users for current statistical data to monitor poverty levels and the welfare of households in Bangladesh. It has already generated estimates of employment, especially in the informal sector and especially of women, since it is felt that this is an important indicator of well-being and poverty. In addition, the project has also updated the Index of Industrial Production (IIP); updated the register of establishments; and put systems in place to ensure that the register is reviewed on a regular basis. Two compendiums on environmental and gender statistics are under process.

The implementation of the project has built-in features to improve coordination, governance, accountability and transparency as well as efficiency, partnerships, monitoring, and wider dissemination. This project is expected to leave behind significant contributions in meeting the growing demand for quality data of the country.

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