GOOD statistics are necessary to help ensure that the available resources put into development are used as effectively as possible in efforts to reduce poverty in the society, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The Statistician from NBS Ms Ruth Minja said at the closure of two day workshop to journalists held in Morogoro Region over the weekend that the power of statistics is recognised in their use which spans the design and implementation stages of country policy frameworks, such as Poverty Reduction Strategies.
“Statistics are important to development progress, not only monitoring progress but also help drive the outcomes that the statistics are measuring,” she said adding that statistics help ensure scarce resources are used effectively and efficiently by providing the basis for evidence-based policy and decision making.
She said statistics are needed to provide strong foundation for the diagnosis of poverty and the development situation as well as to monitor the effectiveness of policy implementation. BOn her part, Ms Elide Mwanri from NBS said statistics help identify needs, set goals, and monitor progress.
“Without good statistics, the development progress is blind, policy makers cannot learn from their mistakes, the public cannot hold them accountable,” she said. Data are needed to formulate policies and programmes to tackle the most pressing issues thus requiring coherent quantitative statistics and qualitative assessments, which often involve new approaches.
She said the importance and availability of timely and reliable statistics on socio-economic life of a sovereign nation cannot be over-stressed. “Timely, complete, accurate and reliable statistics is critical for creating and sustaining an environment which fosters strong, equitable development,” she added.
She said good statistics also improve the transparency and accountability of policy making, both of which are essential for good governance by enabling people to judge the success of government policies.