Addis Ababa, October 21, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopian President Taye Atske-Selassie has highlighted the country’s statistical reforms and digital transformation as examples of how measurable development targets and reliable data can advance Africa’s development, reporting that mobile money and mobile banking accounts in Ethiopia have reached a combined 257 million.
Addressing the 10th Session of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa) in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, the President stressed that development cannot be effectively planned, sustained or expanded without measurable results, underscoring the importance of credible statistics in shaping policy and tracking progress.
“One thing that we have learned over the last several decades is that real development cannot be planned if measured arbitrarily,” he said. “A growth that is not measured cannot be harnessed, sustained and scaled up.”
Ethiopia has anchored its development plan in measurable targets and reformed its statistical legislation, establishing the Ethiopian Statistics Service with a mandate to lead and coordinate the national statistical system, he noted.
The President also pointed to the country’s financial and digital reforms, including the introduction of a national digital payment strategy, the liberalization of the financial sector and the development of interoperable payment infrastructure.
These measures, alongside the national digital identification programme, Fayda, have helped expand access to financial services and other essential services, he said.
Highlighting the scale of the transformation, Taye reported that mobile money and mobile banking accounts in Ethiopia had reached a combined 257 million, with transactions valued at more than 24 trillion birr processed during the first nine months of 2026.
He described the development as a significant achievement in the country’s financial and digital systems, linking the expansion of digital services to the broader need for reliable data and effective public service delivery.
Drawing lessons from Ethiopia’s experience, the President outlined three priorities for African statistical systems: extracting practical value from data, strengthening the stewardship of national statistical institutions over increasingly diverse data sources, and ensuring that technological innovation reinforces statistical quality and independence.
He emphasized that producing statistics alone is insufficient unless the resulting information is clearly communicated and used by policymakers and citizens.
Modern statistical institutions, he added, must integrate and safeguard diverse data sources while protecting statistical integrity. Innovation, meanwhile, should strengthen the quality and independence of national statistical systems and build public and institutional trust.
Taye called on African governments to uphold the professional independence of official statistics, strengthen the legal and institutional frameworks governing their production, invest in national statistical systems and ground decision-making in scientific evidence.
Poor-quality data, he warned, undermines evidence-based decisions, obstructs development and weakens accountability. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated action by governments, statistical institutions and development partners, including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), to ensure that high-quality data is available as a reliable public good.
The President also acknowledged the responsibilities facing national statistical offices, including producing timely and detailed statistics, adopting new technologies, integrating emerging data sources and maintaining public trust despite resource constraints.
He reaffirmed Ethiopia’s readiness to share its experience with other African countries while learning from their respective approaches, stressing the importance of cooperation and mutual learning in addressing shared statistical challenges.
The session is being held under the theme “Unleashing the value of data in Africa: making official statistics a true mirror of the continent.” It coincides with the 12th meeting of the Regional Committee of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Africa (UN-GGIM: Africa).
The gathering provides a continental platform for strengthening statistical and geospatial systems and advancing the use of reliable evidence in development planning.
Declaring the two meetings officially open, Taye called for stronger statistical systems that serve the public good, safeguard professional independence and ensure that every community is represented in the evidence guiding its development.