RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday emphasised the necessity for correct interpretation of information to facilitate extra knowledgeable determination making as it can convey readability in communication from determination makers in addition to formation of rational expectations from market contributors.
“The importance of statistics in public policy is well understood. In the face of high uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the discipline of statistics found itself in greater spotlight. This unprecedented global phenomenon has tested human endeavour in multiple facets and magnitude,” he mentioned.
Speaking on the RBI’s annual ‘Statistics Day Conference’, Das talked about that lockdowns in varied nations, together with India, posed extreme challenges to the compilation and availability of information referring to the unfold of the pandemic, and its influence on varied economies and the world urgently wanted options to an issue it had by no means seen earlier than.
Recalling India’s expertise in knowledge gathering, he mentioned the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation was compelled to publish imputed figures for Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2 consecutive months through the first wave of the pandemic in 2020 attributable to immense issue in assortment of costs for a lot of gadgets.
He mentioned statistical improvements arising out of the pandemic disruption can have long-lasting advantages and added that the upheaval additionally posed challenges to statistical businesses to construct extra public belief within the ensuing statistics.
While new knowledge sources open up alternatives for official statistics, he mentioned it additionally raises points for the self-discipline.
“… statistics should focus on laying down the pathway towards proper interpretation in the present world of data abundance. This would facilitate more informed decision making, clarity in communication from decision makers and formation of rational expectations from market participants,” Das mentioned.
Observing that the event of correct knowledge high quality framework and guaranteeing knowledge privateness and knowledge safety has assumed prime precedence, Das mentioned this was a central theme for the not too long ago held International Association for Official Statistics Conference in April 2022.
Central banks on their half are each producers and customers of statistics for coverage actions in addition to for assessing the outcomes of their actions. They additionally want to ascertain stronger communication of their insurance policies and actions in such turbulent occasions, he famous.
Thus, central banks too had to deal with all these challenges by focussing on different indicators and knowledge sources for monitoring the results of the pandemic in all its dimensions.
Talking about RBI, Das mentioned it has refocussed its statistical endeavours through the pandemic to make sure the continuity of its mission.
“RBI’s past efforts in streamlining of data flow, investment in technology and continuous engagement with regulated entities paid dividends. In addition to some shift in modes of survey data collection, more consistency checks were put in place and sample follow-up revisits were introduced to ensure sanctity of data,” he mentioned.
Innovative options had been discovered by way of channels of information assortment, validations and dissemination for coverage inputs in addition to for assembly varied worldwide reporting commitments, he mentioned.
“Our endeavour has been to follow global standards and best practices, some of which are still evolving. In parallel to these developments, more indices, sub-indices and other statistics have also come to the forefront as countries strive to achieve higher standard of living, and attempt to monitor their progress across multiple dimensions,” he mentioned.
Various types of human growth indices, happiness indices and inequality indices have been proposed within the literature and at the moment are compiled by varied nationwide and worldwide businesses, he mentioned.
Given its vastness and geographical variety, he mentioned India requires regional dimensions of nationwide indicators.
“We should aim at enhanced granularity, regularity and better validation. In the Reserve Bank, we treat information as a ‘public good’. We envision to keep calibrating our information management systems to the needs and expectations of various stakeholders,” he mentioned.
RBI must also faucet alternate knowledge sources, and think about methods and technique of becoming them within the current analytical frameworks, he added.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”