These initiatives discuss the burning statistical issues confronting the central banking community and the issues discussed reflect contemporary concerns of central bankers themselves. More details on IFC and its activities can be found on the BIS website. The theme of MyStats 2012, “Enhancing National Statistics to Meet Public and Private Sectors Needs during a Period of Transformation”. This theme is most appropriate given that Malaysia is embarking on an economic transformation programme (ETP) to achieve a high income high value-added economy. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  The transformation process would demand richer, more reliable and timely data to assess the progress of various change program being taken and ensure initiatives implemented are effective in achieving the transformation agenda. This is critical given the transformation is taking place amidst a more challenging global economic environment. Downside risks to global growth are now more elevated, with heightened uncertainties surrounding the European sovereign debt crisis and fiscal issues in the US that would have impact on global growth prospects. In this environment, it is of utmost importance that relevant and credible statistics are available to policymakers and analysts on a timely basis, to allow for an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis of the economy, so that appropriate and pre-emptive policy actions can be taken. To my mind, there are three perennial issues facing statisticians and authorities; the extent of data coverage, granularity and timeliness.
The data gaps would complicate the assessment on key issues such as the sustainability of household indebtedness, whether we are creating the right type of jobs or whether our policies are providing long term or temporary employment. Second, there are significant gaps in terms of balance sheet data, especially for households and corporates. This deficiency in data complicates detection of vulnerabilities, build up of risks and propagation of shocks from one sector to another. I hope the discussion today would provide insights into dealing with some of these issues I earlier mentioned. At this conference, we will have the opportunity to examine areas which we can improve so that our statistics are credible, relevant and timely, would facilitate informed policy formulation and decision making by the authorities, and enable informed decision makings by economic agents such as investors, financial institutions and the general public at large. In the first three sessions today, our distinguished speakers and discussants will share insights and experiences in many areas; the adoption of statistical best practices in data management, ways to promote data sharing and communication of statistics, identification of statistical gaps and limitations faced by analysts or authorities in the usage of data. The session would also explore and provide possible resolution to challenges confronted by compilers and users of statistics.