By Nadia Ntiamoah
The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Zakari Mumuni, has called for a fundamental shift in how Ghana generates and uses statistics, arguing that the country’s biggest challenge is no longer a lack of data but the ability to transform abundant information into timely, reliable and actionable intelligence.
According to Dr Mumuni, statistics and data science must move beyond the production of figures and reports to become central tools for improving policymaking and delivering tangible outcomes for citizens. He made the remarks on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, in Tamale in the Northern Region when he delivered the keynote address at the 4th Annual Statistics and Data Science Conference of the Ghana Statistical Association.
The conference was held under the theme, “Innovations in Statistics and Data Science: Research, Practice and Policy Impact,” bringing together stakeholders from government, academia, industry and other sectors to examine the growing role of data and technology in national development.
Dr Mumuni acknowledged the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, who had initially been scheduled to participate in the conference but was unable to attend.Dr Mumuni used his address to outline what he described as three interconnected requirements for effective policymaking: better data, better decisions and better outcomes. He stressed that while technological advancement has dramatically increased the volume and speed of information available to governments and institutions, data on its own does not automatically produce sound policy.
“Data itself does not make policy. A forecast does not make policy. An algorithm does not make policy. People make policy,” he said, emphasising the continued importance of human judgment even as artificial intelligence and sophisticated analytical systems become increasingly prominent in public decision-making.
Data quality remains the foundation
Dr Mumuni said the quality of policymaking begins with the quality of the information on which decisions are based. For the Bank of Ghana, he explained, statistics are not peripheral to its mandate because monetary and financial policy decisions depend heavily on accurate and relevant economic information.
He identified three essential requirements for trustworthy data: the manner in which it is collected, the quality of the information and its continued relevance to changing economic conditions.
He explained that reliable economic data begins at the ground level, pointing to the work undertaken by researchers who travel across the country, including Tamale, to track prices and conduct business and consumer confidence surveys. Such fieldwork, he noted, ensures that when the Monetary Policy Committee meets to deliberate on the economy, its assessment reflects experiences from across Ghana rather than being based solely on developments in Accra.
The First Deputy Governor also warned against the growing tendency to assume that artificial intelligence can automatically solve weaknesses in data collection and analysis.
He argued that AI can process enormous volumes of information, but cannot transform inaccurate or poorly collected data into reliable information. Unclear definitions, inconsistent classifications and weak validation processes, he said, can cause even sophisticated analytical systems to produce misleading conclusions.
He therefore reaffirmed the importance of traditional statistical disciplines, including sampling, measurement, classification, validation, metadata and appropriate revisions. In his view, the familiar warning of “garbage in, garbage out” has become even more relevant in the era of artificial intelligence, where poor inputs can result in highly sophisticated but fundamentally unreliable outputs.
Ghana’s changing economy requires constantly updated data
Dr Mumuni further stressed that data must remain relevant because economies do not remain static. New industries emerge, consumer behaviour changes and economic structures evolve, making it necessary for statistical systems to be periodically reviewed and updated.
He cited the rebasing of Gross Domestic Product and the Consumer Price Index as important exercises in ensuring that official measures continue to reflect the realities of the economy. He also pointed to emerging data sources such as payment systems, tax records and telecommunications information, which he said could provide new opportunities for understanding economic activity.
However, he cautioned that the increased use of such data must be accompanied by strong confidentiality and governance safeguards.
