KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Demand for higher quality and comprehensive statistics from both the private and public sectors will rise in view of the changing contours of the global landscape, Bank Negara Malaysia said.

Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the increasingly complex global networks had given rise to demand for new sets of data to enhance understanding of the interlinkages and to assess the implications.

"While many global initiatives on enhancing statistics were the result of financial crises that happened in the 1990s, we now find ourselves recognising that far more needs to be done following the much worse and devastating global financial crisis that has resulted in significant costs around the world. 

"The recent crisis has tested policymakers to the limit and has placed greater demands on the community of statisticians," she said in her keynote address at the International Statistical Institute (ISI) Regional Statistics Conference here today. 

While the lack of data was not the root cause of the global financial crisis, she said, it did revealed serious information gaps in key areas that might have helped the authorities to measure, understand and respond better to risks in the international financial system. 

In giving example, Zeti said, even for the most advanced statistical systems, such as in the US and Europe, the crisis highlighted “black holes” in data that now needed to be addressed.

"Closing these information gaps involves an important and heavy work agenda for the years to come. 

"More efforts are now underway to strengthen cross-country data collection and close these gaps," she added. — Bernama