|
BY OUR STAFF
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti says statistics are “software issues” for any government, but that there is phobia in the business community that affects the production of accurate data.
In his keynote address on African Statistics day on Friday, Biti said the low response rate is compromising the quality and timelines of the Zimbabwean national economic statistics.
“There is that statistics phobia among our business community. When Zimstats send them survey… they don’t understand how qualitative statistics are at the epicentre of any planning processes and how it is frustrating when you are working without current data or conflicting data,” Biti said.
Biti said the unavailability of accurate data is an invisible sign of fragility.
“There are things that people see as a sign of collapse or fragility of a state; shops that are empty, roads with potholes, hospitals and schools that don’t work. Those are physical signs of fragility,” Biti said.
“When you go into a planning office like the ministry of Finance there are certain invisible signs of fragility that you don’t see and one of them is data and statistics and capacity.”
Biti said the ministry is grateful to development partners for providing the capacity building for the nation to have credible statistics.
Before the creation of the inclusive government, statistics produced by the then Central Statistical Office (CSO) had been questioned by independent economists.
CSO was later transformed into Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat).
The 2011 African Statistics day was held under the theme “Keeping accounts to improve Africa’s present for a brighter future”.
Biti also launched the publicity for the 2012 Population Census and the Zimbabwe National Statistics Database 2011.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
