National Assembly Chairman: 'Plant a banana tree, raise a pig, three sectors report'

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and many members of the National Assembly Standing Committee reflected on the situation of inaccurate and inconsistent statistical data between ministries, branches and localities, causing difficulties in management and forecasting.

On the morning of October 9, continuing the 50th session, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Statistics.

Speaking at the meeting, many members of the National Assembly Standing Committee reflected on the discrepancy in statistical data between ministries, branches, and localities.

Chairman of the National Defense - Security - Foreign Affairs Committee Le Tan Toi said that when discussing the socio -economic group at the recent Central Conference, there were many opinions from provincial party secretaries saying that the current population statistics had two different numbers.

Chairman of the National Defense - Security - Foreign Affairs Committee Le Tan Toi reflected that there are many discrepancies between statistical numbers.

PHOTO: GIA HAN

Statistics from the Ministry of Public Security say our country's current population is 109 million people, while statistics from the General Statistics Office show that the number is not even one hundred million people.

"The Secretary of An Giang said that An Giang currently has more than 5 million people, but the statistics of the General Statistics Office show that there are only 3.5 million. They lost 1.5 million people. Therefore, recently, dividing GDP per capita has been very difficult. The same is true for Phu Tho province," Mr. Toi said, saying that there needs to be a coordination mechanism between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Finance, even though the resolution must follow the official figures of the General Statistics Office.

Statistical discrepancies are inevitable.

Speaking at the meeting, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized that the amendment of the Statistics Law must ensure the reduction of administrative reporting burden, data security and technology integration. The National Assembly Chairman said that currently, when going to localities, party committees, authorities and sectors all complain that they have to report too much. Therefore, there must be a way to reduce the burden on localities that have to invest too much time in reporting.

Another requirement, the National Assembly Chairman noted, is that the law amendment must increase the timeliness and accuracy of statistical indicators, thereby supporting macroeconomic analysis and forecasting.

"Where can we confirm exactly how many people we have now? 107 million or 108 million? There are many different reports on this issue. Of course, the population will change every day and every week, but how can we know? Many times people have died but are still recorded as alive," the National Assembly Chairman said.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man proposed improving the accuracy and timeliness of statistics to serve sustainable development.

PHOTO: GIA HAN

"We have now calculated the GDP of the whole country. Can we calculate the GDP of the province? And in the future, for example, will the commune calculate this? Currently, there is a situation where three sectors report on planting a banana tree or raising a pig. Because the father, mother and children in the family all report and then synthesize the numbers, it is not accurate," said the National Assembly Chairman, emphasizing that the revised Statistics Law is not only a legal document but also a powerful tool to support sustainable development.

Explaining, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that the need for socio-economic statistical information to serve management and administration at the commune level is urgent and very necessary. However, Mr. Thang affirmed that the regulations on commune-level statistical information and the commune-level statistical reporting regime do not increase the workload of the commune level because the management and operation of the commune-level statistical information system is assigned to the grassroots statistical agency.

Regarding the accuracy of the statistics reflected by many members of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Mr. Thang said there are many reasons, and differences are inevitable when we currently do not have 100% digital database.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chu-tich-quoc-hoi-trong-mot-cay-chuoi-nuoi-mot-con-heo-ba-nganh-bao-cao-185251009112958886.htm