Biased statistics constitutes political abuse Wahiduddin Mahmud

Business Report :

When statistics are released with bias, it constitutes political abuse, said Planning Adviser Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud on Monday while addressing a programme organised by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center marking World Statistics Day.

Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud also state that a longstanding tendency of successive governments to selectively disclose information that aligns with their interests, while withholding data that does not favour them.

Stressing the need for the generation of unbiased data and transparent information dissemination, he added that there is an ongoing debate over the transparency of public statistics, allegations of manipulation are not always accurate.

Mahmud also emphasized that ethics and adherence to international standards are fundamental to statistical integrity.

In the keynote presentation, Kabir Uddin Ahmed, director of the BBS, underscored its role as the national statistical office, stating that they were producing reliable, timely, and internationally comparable data to support evidence-based policymaking.

At the event, Anissuzzaman Chowdhury, special assistant to the chief adviser, stressed the importance of quality data in shaping effective, real-time policy.

“Actors across sectors need accurate data to plan their actions. The government, in particular, relies on timely and reliable data to chart its course,” he said.

Meanwhile, BBS has drifted away from its core mandate of producing regular and impartial national data due to an excessive reliance on projectbased operations, according to a taskforce report released yesterday.

Formed by the Statistics and Informatics Division (SID) on 28 April, the eightmember independent taskforce was tasked with reviewing BBS’s quality, transparency, survey methods, and institutional capacity, and recommending reforms.

BBS has long been trapped in a donordriven framework that has eroded institutional memory, encouraged unhealthy internal competition, and left field operations underresourced, the report identifies.

Speaking at the event, taskforce Chair Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said, “To transform BBS into a modern, professional, and independent national statistical institution, it must break free from project dependency and adopt a permanent structure backed by policy reform.”

The report also cautions that BBS remains vulnerable to political interference, with administrative and political pressures often influencing whether data that might reflect poorly on government performance are released — undermining both credibility and timeliness.

“A credible National Statistics Office is the backbone of modern statecraft,” the report states. “Public trust in government statistics will only be restored when data are produced professionally, transparently, and free from political influence.”