21 April 2013: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the leaders of the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen inter-agency collaboration on data and statistical capacity building.

The collaboration aims to improve statistical standards, analysis and tools to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda, including by sharing data. The signatories stressed that stronger statistical capacity and collaboration will support more sophisticated decision-making and analysis, including on distribution, inequality and natural wealth accounting. Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President, described timely statistical information as critical in knowing “whether we are making progress toward our goals of improving the lives of the poor.”

Leaders also highlighted the role of timely data and improved statistical capacity in supporting the post-2015 agenda. Ban emphasized the MoU “will help us further deepen our joint work to meet the MDGs and develop a post-2015 agenda for a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable future.” Donald Kaberuka, AfDB President said, more timely and better statistics will “provide the basis for understanding the social and economic circumstances in which people live, enabling better policies and programs,” noting such work “will help build the foundation for a robust post-2015 agenda.”

Although they are not signatories to the MoU, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said they support the MoU’s goals and plan to contribute their expertise to the post-2015 agenda. [AfDB Press Release] [ADB Press Release] [Islamic Development Bank Press Release]