The government has restructured the National Advisory Council on Statistics (NACS) with an objective to making statistics more user-friendly and producing globally-accepted data.

This year, the planning adviser will head the 17-member council, which will recommend the government's priorities for conducting surveys, censuses, and other statistical activities in the changing scenario.

The council will also provide recommendations on the budget, work plan implementation, timetable, and methodology for censuses conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), according to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division last week.

"Our main objective is to strengthen the BBS to make data trustworthy," said SM Shakil Akhter, additional secretary of the statistics and informatics division and also member secretary of the NACS.

The move comes the time when questions were raised on the credibility of various national statistics on the economy.

The white paper committee, in its report, has identified discrepancies in data prepared by state agencies on gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, poverty, population, and agricultural production.

The white paper panel, led by economist Debapriya Bhattacharya, had consulted with relevant data professionals of the BBS and other organisations and commented that the political policymakers took a special interest in the GDP figures.

The committee, which submitted its report earlier this month, alleged that a collusive group within the BBS had emerged to ensure that the country's economic performance appeared positive under all circumstances, even if only on paper.

During the post-2019 period, this collusive group was largely maintaining the act.

The members of the NACS -- comprising Bangladesh Bank governor, chairman of the National Board of Revenue and director generals of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and BBS -- will meet twice a year.

The government has also included the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and chairmen of the departments of economics and statistics of the Dhaka University in the NACS.

The government formed such panel on statistics for the first time in 2022 and it was revised in April this year after the 12th parliamentary election held in early January this year.