Talk on Macroeconomics Statistics

UTAR Institute of Management and Leadership Development (IMLD) organised a talk titled “Macroeconomics Statistics: An Understanding of Concept, Sources and Analysis” on 16 August 2023 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus. The two-hour talk attracted participants, including academic staff and students from various faculties. The talk aimed to educate students and staff for a better understanding of macroeconomic statistics in terms of key concepts, sources and analysis.

The poster

The talk was presented by Mr Toh Hock Chai, the former director of the Statistical Services Department at Bank Negara Malaysia. Mr Toh holds a master’s degree in Applied Statistics and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Malaya. Since 1986, he has served in BNM and has exposure to a diversity of jobs scopes— from handling the compilation and dissemination of all statistics to covering financial, payments, monetary and economic statistics, and the internal and external stakeholders of the Bank for surveillance, analysis, research, decision making and policy formulation. He is also one of the executive members of the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel since 2015. He is currently the chairman of the International Statistical Institute South East (ISI SEA) Regional Network and is appointed as one of the committee members of the Malaysia Institute of Statistics since 2014.

Mr Toh during his presentation

Mr Toh started his presentation by introducing the various types and uses of data.  He then talked about the roles and functions of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM). He also explained the differences between microeconomics and macroeconomics data, and discussed a few key statistics related to economic growth, external sector, inflation, and employment. Additionally, he talked about the global key macroeconomic statistics, forward-looking indicators and other indicators which are compiled and published by DOSM.

The talk ended with a Q&A session and a quiz. The top three winners who excelled in the quiz received a gift as a token of participation.

Participants listening attentively

Top three winners receiving their prizes