BBS grappling with financial data collection from biggies

As the Economic Census is going on across the country, the national statistical organisation is struggling to collect data especially from the medium to large industrial and commercial units.

Most of the enterprises in the segment are reluctant to share necessary information with the enumerators, alleged some enumerators, supervisors and relevant persons while talking to the FE.

"Almost all the economic units are providing information except some big ones that are showing reluctance. However, we are trying to motivate them to provide the data," said Mizanur Rahman, Deputy Project Director (DPD) of the Census.

He said that the census supervisors and coordinators step in to try to convince the enterprises to provide information where the enumerators fail.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) brought a group of journalists to Ashulia and Savar areas on Saturday so that they could witness the data collection system on the field under the Economic Census 2024, the 4th of its kind in Bangladesh.

The enumerators were collecting data and information regarding the activities of the economic units in the areas.

The BBS started conducting such a census on December 10 under a Tk 5.79 billion project, taken after 11 years of the third census conducted in 2013, in a bid to update the country's economic data.

It is supposed to collect information from around 7.60 million economic units, out of around 12 million across the country, over a 17-day period until December 26.

For the first time, the statistical bureau would collect consumption, expenditure and profit data of the units separately, Project Director SM Shakil Akhtar told journalists on the inauguration day of the census.

Bangladesh's first economic census was held in 1986. The second census was held in 2001 and 2003.

The economic census usually provides key data on the number of establishments like permanent, temporary and economic households at national and sub-national levels, employment generation, business structure, labour force participation, and private sector composition.

"We are facing some difficulties as we approached some industrial units, banks and big establishments. They are mainly reluctant to provide their financial data and information," Khorshed Alam, an Upazila Census Coordinator of the BBS, told the FE.

However, when any enumerator fails to collect data, he himself or his superior rush to the economic units to convince and motivate them to provide them with necessary information, he further said.

During discussions with 4-5 enumerators and their supervisors, almost all of them shared similar experiences about data collection difficulty.

DPD Mizanur Rahman said: "We have already conducted a lot of campaigns through online, broadcast, print and mass media for building awareness among the people about the survey.

"The campaign is still going on. We hope all the Bangladeshi citizens will cooperate with the BBS to ensure credible and reliable data," he said.

When asked, Mr Rahman said they had already collected about 73 per cent data from some 7.60 million economic units across the country. "We're hopeful about covering all our targeted samples within the next five days," he said on Saturday.

The preliminary data of the census is likely to be shared early next year.

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