Keynote Speakers
Yemi Kale
Statistician General, National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria
Morten Jerven
Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University
Panelists
Andrew Dabalen, Lead Economist, World Bank Africa Region, World Bank
Roberto Rosales, Deputy Director, Statistics, International Monetary Fund
Amanda Glassman, Senior Fellow and Director of Global Health Policy, Center for Global Development
Moderator
Rajesh Mirchandani, Senior Director of Communications and Policy Outreach, Center for Global Development
Data and measurement are increasingly at the center of debates in African economic development. Last year, the remarkable upward revision of GDP in Nigeria followed the recent GDP revision in Ghana, which led to the declaration of a ‘Statistical Tragedy in Africa.’ However, the revisions are also a sign that some statistical systems are improving.
This event will launch a special issue of the Journal of Development Studies, titled “Statistical Tragedy in Africa? Evaluating the Data Base for African Economic Development,” which features a series of papers on the quality of data on GDP, health, education, poverty, employment, agriculture, and wealth. The event will focus on the extent of the data problem in Africa and assess its implications for both academic interpretations and policy advice. It will also highlight ways both producers and users of key economic data can address the so-called “statistical tragedy” in Africa and help to improve the accuracy, timeliness and availability of key economic data.
