International Symposium
"In Pursuit of Statistics for Sustainable Development in Asia"
KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
Statistics and Sustainable Economic Development
in the Asia and the Pacific Region in the 21st century
by
Lau kak En
Director
United Nations Statistical Institute
for Asia and the Pacific
(SIAP)
ABSTRACT
Three interrelated areas are focussed upon. First, the growth experience in the Asia-Pacific region including some events that have cast doubt on the sustainability of its rapid economic expansion in the recent past is reviewed. Second, the future data needs of countries in the region is evaluated in the light of recent developments at the global level in statistical methodologies and classification systems and data standards. Third, the importance of training of statistical personnel is highlighted and the role of the United Nations Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) is explained.
In recent decades, the Asia-Pacific economies as a whole have shown dynamism and have performed exceedingly well, but questions arise as to whether such rapid growth is sustainable. Given globalization of production processes, competition between countries has intensified and the critical issue is whether the resultant economic growth is well-balanced and based on sound foundations. The recent painful experience of Southeast Asia has illustrated that rapid economic growth based on weak foundations, can result in instability and volatility. For effective policy formulation, a comprehensive understanding of the socioeconomic progress, broader measures of development that encapsulate social, equity, and environmental concerns is required. In that context, problems in the measurement and aggregation of data are multi-faceted, especially in the emerging areas relating to the non-economic dimensions of development. The outward-oriented growth strategy of countries in the region has also caused the interdependence of the national economy with the world to increase, and has two major ramifications. One, globalization of business activities is often accmpanied by deregulation that sees traditional statistical sources, such as from adminstrative records, disappear. Two, greater international linkage through trade and capital flows has created new and far-reaching data demands.
There is, however, great differentiation in the level of statistical development among countries, due to which the reliability of data varies greatly across the region; in most developing countries, the statistical infrastructure is inadequate. Since relevant data is crucial to good policy formutation and decision
