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ECA Press Release No. 27/2004
AFRICA NEEDS BETTER STATISTICAL INFORMATION, SAYS ECA
Addis Ababa, 18 November 2004 (ECA) African governments should give priority to building up statistical data about their countries in order to make their policies more effective, the Economic Commission for Africa has said.
Speaking on African Statistics Day 2004, the Director of the ECA’s Economic and Social Policy Division, Augustin Fosu, said: “The absence of reliable, up-to-date statistical information in many African countries limits the application of practical development strategies on the continent.”
“Even when the data is there, it is rarely used effectively in the context of development policy and programme management,” he added.
To highlight the issue, the slogan of African Statistics Day this year is “Managing for Development Results: the Role of Statistical Information.”
Fosu called for the compiling, analyzing and dissemination of statistical information. He said having a statistical system was a precondition for “lasting and coherent policy and programme frameworks.”
Statistics would allow governments to assess a nation’s potential in human and natural resources and in infrastructure, and set coherent and attainable objectives, he said.
Statistical knowledge is also critical for assessing progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which define expected outcomes and indicators of achievement.
In Africa, statistical systems are at varying stages of development. Some countries are able to undertake exhaustive and expensive countrywide operations such as censuses, specific sample surveys and cross-checking of administrative records through databases.
Other African nations lack the capacity to generate the required information for macro-economic and social demand management.
“Such countries require more adequate financial and human capital resources that enable effective data collection programmes, like population censuses,” said Augustin Fosu.
African and international partners have recently launched a number of initiatives to strengthen statistical capacities in Africa.
Most recent was the global partnership known as “Paris 21” on managing development results, published in a joint declaration by the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The World Bank, and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were also signatories.
For further inquiries please contact:
Ms Cristina Muller
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