Philip R Lane: Maximising the user value of statistics - lessons from globalisation and the pandemic

Remarks (virtual) by Mr Philip R Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the European Statistical Forum, 26 April 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
28 April 2021

Economic and financial statistics play a central role in guiding monetary policy decisions: central banks constitute an important user group for the output of statistical agencies, while also helping to collect the data underpinning many macro-financial statistical series. Events such as the European Statistical Forum provide a welcome opportunity to bring together the producers and users of statistics.

In my remarks today, I will discuss two main topics: the first topic is the globalisation-related measurement challenges for macroeconomic statistics, with a focus on external and national accounts; the second topic is the data needs exposed by the pandemic crisis. I will highlight some of the ongoing initiatives to address these measurement challenges, and outline some ideas to enhance further the quality of official statistics.