Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Challenges in compiling and communicating
statistics in Malaysia
Opening remarks by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of
Malaysia, at the National Statistics Conference (MyStats 2012), Kuala Lumpur, 9 November
2012.
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Saya berbesar hati untuk mengalu-alukan kepada semua yang hadir pada persidangan yang
julung-julung kali diadakan ini, MyStats 2012, yang memperlihatkan sekali lagi kejayaan
dalam usaha kerjasama di antara Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia dengan Bank Negara
Malaysia. Saya juga amat gembira dan berbangga dengan sokongan yang ditunjukkan oleh
para peserta yang mengambil bahagian hari ini, yang terdiri daripada sektor swasta dan
sektor awam, pengguna dan perangkawan statistik, di samping rakan-rakan saya
daripada Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC). Dengan kehadiran
kumpulan yang mempunyai pelbagai kepentingan ini, saya yakin forum ini akan menjadi
platform yang amat sesuai untuk kita berkongsi pandangan, bertukar-tukar pengetahuan dan
pengalaman tentang statistik, dan akhirnya memperoleh manfaat besar daripada
persidangan ini.
I am pleased to welcome all of you to this inaugural conference, MyStats 2012, a
collaborative effort between Department of Statistics Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia. I
am also very encouraged by the strong support from all of you present here today,
representing both the private and public sectors, users and compilers of statistics, and
Executives members from the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC). With
such a diversified interest group, I believe this forum will be an important platform for us to
share views, exchange statistical knowledge and experiences.
The objective of MyStats is to provide a platform for our statisticians, analysts, economists,
policy makers, academicians and media to share, discuss and highlight insights and issues
in statistical analysis and policy formulation as well as challenges in the compilation and
communication of statistics. MyStats will not only discuss economic and financial data, but
will also encompass other socio-economic statistics such as poverty measurement and
indicators, labour and employment statistics, just to name a few.
I hope that this collaborative effort will one day turn into an annual THE statistics event in
Malaysia and MyStats will evolve into a regional conference, similar to the well-established
statistical conferences organised by the International Statistics Institute (ISI), European
Central Bank (ECB) and IFC. I must acknowledge that this conference was inspired by the
efforts of the ECB and IFC, which the Bank and I, as the Chairman of IFC, have been
actively engaging with on statistical initiatives, in particular over the last one year.
For those who are new to the IFC, allow me to mention a few words on the Committee. The
IFC is a forum of central bank economists and statisticians as well as others who wish to
participate in discussing statistical issues of interest to central banks. It is established and
governed by the international central banking community and operates under the auspices of
the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Currently, the IFC has about 80 central bank
members and is actively organising statistical initiatives, particularly conferences, seminars
and workshops. 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.
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. Indeed, it has been often noted that the surprise
element at the onset of economic and financial crisis is often due to the lack of high quality,
comprehensive and timely data. For example, the Asian Financial Crisis revealed major gaps
in statistical coverage, especially on detailed cross border exposures and indicators for
financial soundness, which had permitted serious vulnerabilities to go undetected and
unresolved for a long time.
Another key lesson learnt, was from the global financial crisis, where the lack of data and
monitoring of financial innovation that had allowed the build up of financial risks to go
undetected until it was too late. Another good example was the existent of a large shadow
banking system that is unregulated and unsupervised. At the same time, insufficient
coverage and depth of information can potentially place policymakers at the risk of deriving
at the wrong conclusion and thus, prescribing the wrong policy measures or prescriptions.
The decisions that we make are only as good as the data on which it is based. In this
respect, I would highlight two areas in particular that requires further data compilation.
First, in the area of labour market statistics, there are notable gaps in terms of data collection
on the economy-wide wages, hours worked per labour, productivity index, unit labour cost
and duration of employment. We also do not have data and enough information on the kind
of jobs that the economy is producing, either by sector, wage level, type of jobs and for
whom the jobs are created.
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.
In the concluding panel discussion, the panellists will deliberate on new data requirements,
the need for more forward looking and pre-emptive data collection and compilation, identify
best practices to enhance data integrity and communication of statistics, and the role the
private sector can play in contributing better data collation.
Your views today is important as it would provide insights and assistance to statistical
compilers, policymakers and regulatory authorities to facilitate planning and enhancement of
existing data measurement or implementation of new statistical initiatives. The end game is
to facilitate effective analysis, monitoring and surveillance of the economic and financial
activities and provide accurate assessment of risks and the effectiveness of policy initiatives
and the state of the economy. This forum will also provide analyst an opportunity to share
their views on the type of data that would be useful to them.
While debating on the statistical needs of the public and private sectors, there are many
areas that could be considered, amongst them:
1. Does the private sector benefit given the significant resources that have been
invested by the national statistics office, regulatory authorities and government
agencies to compile more comprehensive, timely and granular data?
2. What type of data that the private analysts require that would improve their
analytical capability to provide analysis for informed decision making to their client?
3. Based on past experiences, data compilation always lags behind financial
innovations and economic developments. Based on this premise, what should be
the strategy, from the perspective of statisticians and users, to ensure the availability
of new and appropriate data on a timely basis to meet future needs of users?
4. How can data compilers and users play a greater role inidentifying new data needs
of a high income and high value added economy?
5. How can statisticians play a more proactive role in advising or communicating with
users on the availability of appropriate data for analysis and surveillance to avoid the
redundancy of data collection?
These questions are by no means exhaustive but I hope our distinguished speakers and
discussants today will address some of them. The speakers and discussants today represent
a wide spectrum of group of compilers and users of statistics, who have vast experience in
conducting significant research in many areas that uses national and international statistics.
Through their presentations and discussions, we hope to learn from their knowledge and
thinking on relevant issues in the field of statistics.
We are also honoured to have two international speakers from the IFC who will talk about the
international best practices in data management and country experiences in data sharing
and communication of statistics. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank them in
advance. I would also like to record our appreciation to the representatives from various
national organisations for chairing the sessions and sharing their views on the topic that we
had identified.
Before I end my remarks, I thought it worth emphasising again the importance of greater
collaboration between statisticians, compilers and end users of statistics in improving data
compilation, communication and its usage. In this respect, I believe that MyStats will be a
strong foundation to facilitate and enhance this collaborative effort.
On that note, I wish you a productive and engaging conference.