Fritzi Köhler-Geib: Statistical challenges and opportunities in times of geoeconomic fragmentation
Speech by Dr Fritzi Köhler-Geib, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, at the External Statistics Conference, hosted by the BIS's Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics, the European Central Bank and the Narodowy Bank Polski, Krakow, 28 May 2027.
Check against delivery
1 Introduction
It is a great pleasure to deliver the keynote of this year's External Statistics Conference hosted by the BIS's Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics, the ECB and Narodowy Bank Polski.
A few weeks ago, I visited the Palazzo Pubblico (the town hall) in Siena, Tuscany. In the Sala della Pace (the Hall of Peace) you can find the famous fresco cycle of the Allegories of Good and Bad Government. It is an Italian gothic masterpiece by Ambrogio Lorenzetti that depicts the effects of good and bad government on the city and the surrounding countryside. While bad government leads to war, disease and poverty, good government leads to peace, justice, a flourishing society and prosperity.
Though the fresco was created in 1338 and 1339, it is still today a powerful reminder that good or bad government is not an abstract idea, but something that has very concrete consequences for trust in institutions and for people's lives – for prosperity and stability.
Standing in front of the Allegory of Good and Bad Government, I could not help thinking about our own responsibilities as statisticians.
Good government depends on good decisions – and good decisions depend on good data. In an era of geo-economic fragmentation, when the world is becoming more complex, and more uncertain, the quality, timeliness, openness, and accessibility of external statistics are not a technical detail. They are a cornerstone of sound policy, international cooperation and, ultimately, of "good government" in the modern sense.