crisis stressed the need to “ reshape ” economic data as well, as it came under higher public scrutiny as well. it means they are watched and used actively by policy - makers, financial markets and general public. the example of the excessive deficit procedure mechanism and the european commission macro imbalance procedure, used to detect and correct macroeconomic imbalances on the basis of a scoreboard of indicators “ are adding pressure on statisticians to deliver high quality data ” ( gonzales - paramo, 2012 ). this highlights the need and the importance of having excellent cooperation between central banks and national statistical offices. at the end, i hope i have managed to pinpoint the main aspects of the ongoing and evolving discussion on the main challenges for the statistics on the backdrop of the “ great recession ”. the crisis was hopefully once in a century adverse event, which made a revolution in the manner in which the statistics is thought of. many issues and challenges in statistics which arose after the crisis have been tackled in the advanced world, but still there are many remaining challenges which are to be tackled in the times to come. as for the less developed countries and less developed statistical systems, the challenges are twofold. first, even absent the crisis, there was a lot of work to be done in order to converge to the systems and practices of the developed world. of course, lots have been done and gaps have been narrowed. but the changes in the approach to the statistics in the developed economies after the crisis mean that their systems will gain additional layer of quality. hence, the crisis has made the challenges for us even bigger, as the benchmarks for convergences in the area of statistics are much higher. but i am positive that the efforts and the energy that we invest in this will be enough to get us closer to what is currently being perceived as the best practice in the world of statistics. in fact there is no other alternative. by now we all know that the reliance on second - best solutions in statistics might entail wrong policy decisions, inability to detect and respond to vulnerabilities, and large costs for the society. let me wish you a successful seminar with productive and interactive discussions. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

anita angelovska - bezoska : statistics – challenging and fundamental issues for central bankers speech by ms anita angelovska - bezoska, vice - governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the joint national bank of the republic of macedonia - ecb seminar on statistics for participants from the region, skopje, 2 – 5 october 2013. * * * dear guests, dear colleagues, on behalf of the nbrm, let me express my warm gratitude to the ecb for co - organizing the event and to all participants for their preparedness to share their experiences, identify the main strengths and weaknesses and pinpoint the main challenges in their own work field. it gives me a great pleasure to welcome you at today ’ s joint event, which i am sure will provide an excellent platform to discuss statistics, as one of the most challenging and fundamental issues for central bankers and policy makers, in general. by now, we are all aware of the fact that timely, reliable and relevant data are sine qua non for a good policy making. the higher the quality of statistics, the larger the probability for timely and proper decisions. the recent “ great recession ” has brought to the fore many deficiencies in the fundamentals of the global economy, in the architecture of the global financial system, in the set - up of the policy decision making process, but also in the area of statistics which is one of the main ingredients for a good economic analysis and policy making. as the economies, markets and institutions are evolving, the pressure on statistics to “ keep pace ” is increasing. hence, the occurrence of the so called “ information gaps ” is inevitable in a rapidly changing world. but, adverse shocks such as the recent crisis reinforce them and make them and their repercussions far more obvious and painful, than in normal times. in times of crisis, these gaps constrain our ability to recognize and react to existing vulnerabilities. let me quote the imf at this point of my speech : “ indeed, the recent crisis has reaffirmed an old lesson – good data and good analysis are the lifeblood of effective surveillance and policy responses at both the national and international levels ”. i would like to focus the rest of my opening address on the main challenges in the area of statistics, and especially to the ones most relevant for successful fulfillment of the central banks ’ mandate. in general terms, the crisis revealed the need for a richer and more streamlined statistics,