The quality of data available to policymakers remains critical to Ghana’s ability to make sound decisions, manage the economy effectively and accelerate national development, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Zakari Mumuni, has said.
He said as the country entered an era of artificial intelligence and big data, the focus should not only be on collecting large volumes of information, but ensuring that the data was accurate, reliable, relevant and fit for purpose.
Speaking at the 4th Annual Statistics and Data Science Conference of the Ghana Statistical Association (GSA) in Tamale yesterday, Dr Mumuni urged the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), researchers and other institutions involved in data production to make data quality a priority because “everything else depends upon it”.
The conference, held on the theme: ‘Innovations in Statistics and Data Science: Research, Practice and Policy Impact,’ brought together stakeholders from government, academia, industry and international organisations to deliberate on the growing role of statistics and data science in national development.
Dr Mumuni said Ghana’s greatest challenge was no longer a shortage of data, but how to transform the abundance of information into timely, reliable and actionable intelligence.
“Data itself does not make policy. A forecast does not make policy. An algorithm does not make policy. People make policy,” he said, stressing that statistics and data science should help decision-makers make better-informed, timely and evidence-based decisions.
Drawing on the experience of the BoG, he said quality data started with how it was collected. He noted that the Bank’s Research Department regularly conducted price monitoring and business and consumer confidence surveys across the country, including Tamale, to ensure that monetary policy decisions reflected economic conditions beyond Accra.
Dr Mumuni cautioned that the growing use of artificial intelligence made data quality even more important, warning that sophisticated technologies could not transform poor data into reliable information.
“If definitions are unclear, classifications inconsistent, or data poorly validated, even the most sophisticated model can produce misleading results,” he said, adding that the old principle of “garbage in, garbage out” remained relevant in the age of AI.
He also called for the responsible use of high-frequency and alternative data, including information from digital payments, taxation, telecommunications and satellite imagery, while maintaining statistical standards, confidentiality and proper governance.
According to him, such data could help policymakers identify economic trends much faster and close the gap between when an event occurred and when decision-makers became aware of it.
Dr Mumuni further urged stronger collaboration between universities, researchers and public institutions, saying research should increasingly be conducted with policymakers rather than merely about policy.
He said the ultimate measure of statistics and data science was not the volume of information collected or the sophistication of models developed, but the impact they had on people and the economy.
He concluded with a simple message for the statistics and data science community: “Better data. Better decisions. Better outcomes.”
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
You can now read the *Ghanaian Times* and *The Spectator* newspapers digitally on [TimesNewsPlus](https://timesnewsplus.com/newspapers).
Follow our WhatsApp Channel now!
