Petar Goshev: Importance of the relevant statistical data for the market economy Speech by Mr Petar Goshev, Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, at the Statistics Symposium "Importance of statistical data in the process of creation of domestic policy and accession to the EU", Skopje, 4 October 2006. *  *  *  Importance of the statistics "Nothing is more important for monetary policy than good statistics" says the first President of the European Monetary Institute, Alexandre Lamfalussy, in the foreword of the publication "Statistical Needs of the Monetary Union" (1996). The relevance of this statement is known to all those who work at the central banks and are directly or indirectly involved in the monetary policy outlining and implementation. Even though, nowadays, the central banks operate in far more stable economic and political environment, they are aware that their capability of conducting a good policy, largely depends on the quality of their statistics. The performances of the complex economic models which have been developed recently and the capability of the policy makers to achieve the set objectives and tasks depend, more than ever, on the relevance of the information they get on the economy. Hence, the statistical data represent a key input in the macroeconomic policy making, including the monetary policy. They are an indicator for the performances of the economy and a basis for the adoption of current decisions, and at the same time they underlie the projections for the future developments.
Therefore their quality, impartiality and timeliness are crucial for successful functioning of the economy of any country. In addition, the statistical indicators are also a basis for the comparative analyses with the economies of other countries and are essentially relevant for positioning of the economy, worldwide. Statistics in the National Bank The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia is largely focused on the design and the development of the statistics. Two years ago, in the process of reorganization of the National Bank operations, a separate Statistics Department was formed that unites all macroeconomic statistics, previously processed in several departments. Its establishment constitutes a centralized organization of the macroeconomic statistics maintained by the National Bank. It ensures larger coordination, methodological conformity and consistence between each type of statistics. The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, together with the State Statistical Office are main institutions that prepare statistical data in the country.