22 Oct 2015

Botswana has always recognised the importance of statistics in supporting national development frameworks, says Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo.

Speaking at the commemoration of World Statistics Day and the launch of the Botswana Strategy for Development of Statistics, Mr Matambo said the onus lies with statistical organisations to rise up to the challenge and support national and global development agendas.

 The minister noted that development frameworks such as  National Development Plans and annual budget were made with the support of statistics.

Mr Matambo said the current situation that was characterised by backlogs and data gaps should be a clarion call, adding that Statistics Botswana should move fast to deliver the statistics mandate.

“While I acknowledge the resource challenges that Statistics Botswana is grappling with, a turnaround strategy needs to be devised now rather than later to meet stakeholders’ expectations,” he said.

The minister said  it was envisaged that the strategy would improve the harmonisation of methodologies, approaches, databases concepts and systems of the national statistics system which comprises Statistics Botswana, other producers of statistics as well as users of official statistics.

In addition, he said  the hallmark of the country’s reputation would be underpinned by the credibility and transparency of its system including the timeliness and integrity of the statistical data emerging from that system.

“The role of statistics is not only critical for the design and implementation of policies at national, regional, continental and global levels, but most importantly for monitoring and evaluation of the impact of such policies on society,” said Mr Matambo.

He said priority to statistical development was also visible through the Southern African Development Community (SADC) statistics programme known as the Regional Strategy for Development of Statistics (SRDS). Ends