— Data essential for development – Chikwanda

Government says data plays an important role in national development.

Finance and National Development minister  Alexander says the quality of economic management and monitoring depends on availability and accessibility of data.

He said the availability of data helps in measuring the present and predicting the future.

He  further stated that sound decisions can only be made if evidence based data is available in a timely manner.

ZANIS reports that the minister said this in a statement released in Lusaka today to mark the launch of the African Statistics Day which falls tomorrow, November, 18, 2014.

Mr Chikwanda said the value of open data is increasing as more data is being released allowing anyone to freely use and distribute it.

He said the government appreciates the advancements that are taking place in technology for use in the production and dissemination of statistics.

He said government recognizes that information is power and an informed citizenry is an empowered citizenry.

Mr Chikwanda also thanked the Economic Commission For Africa for providing support to the development of statistics in Zambia.

Every year, on 18 November, African countries celebrate the African Statistics Day (ASD) with the objective of raising public awareness about the importance of statistics in economic and social development.

This year’s theme is : “Open data for accountability and inclusiveness”