Written by The Banking Post
A government task force has recommended turning the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) into an autonomous agency named Statistics Bangladesh, with a Chief Statistician recruited from the open market to lead the organisation.
The proposals, aimed at strengthening the quality and transparency of official data, also include forming a Statistics Council headed by the Chief Statistician.
The recommendations were submitted on Monday to Planning Adviser Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud by task force head Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, along with other members.
Speaking after the handover at the Ministry of Planning, Dr Rahman said the report lays out “a bold, timely and realistic reform package” to modernise the country’s statistical system.
Asked why the package stopped short of suggesting a long-demanded independent Statistics Commission, he said that was outside the original scope of their work.
The task force was set up to examine how to ensure institutional processes that guarantee reliable statistics, Rahman added.
If approved, the reforms would give Bangladesh’s data agency more independence, a professional leadership structure and stronger governance — key steps, the report said, for producing accurate and credible statistics to support policy and planning.
