The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

The World Bank is providing approximately 1.6 million US dollars as grant in the first stage of its technical assistance project to strengthen the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

According to WB sources, the key areas selected in the in the first stage for the improvement of data quality are living standards monitoring survey, monitoring of trends in employment, improvement of the national accounts and basic economic indicators, environmental statistics, and gender statistics.

A Technical Assistance Project on Capacity Building of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has started operation from April 2008 to meet the crucial need for current statistical data to monitor poverty levels and the welfare of households. This is being implemented by the World Bank funded EMTAP Project.

Realising the importance of the national statistics, the World Bank and the government of Bangladesh signed an agreement in May 2006 on a three-stage process supporting the development of the national statistical system in Bangladesh. The first stage is supporting BBS's effort to improve the data quality in selected priority areas.

The need for statistical data has become even more paramount due to the pressure on poor households for the food and fuel price hike.

The increased capacity will enable BBS to generate estimates of employment, especially in the informal sector, and for women, as these are regarded as an important indicator of well-being and poverty.

The project will also improve the Index of Industrial Production (IIP); and update the register of establishments and putting in place systems to ensure that the register is updated and reviewed on a regular basis.

Two compendiums on environmental and gender statistics will also be compiled.

Further, 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.

As per the 2006 agreement, the second stage will prepare a medium to long-term strategy for the development of statistics in Bangladesh based on Paris 21 guidelines and principles, and the third stage will implement a broad capacity building to strengthen the statistical system in a sustainable way over a four to five year period. This project can make significant contributions to meet the growing demand quality data of the country.