The Ministry of Finance here on Saturday said that transparent, independent and timely data reporting of key economic indicators were the hallmark of the incumbent government. The ministry believed that availability of accurate data was providing clarity for the general public, think tanks, businesses and media houses.
It said that Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were efficiently collecting the data as Pakistan was the only country in the world, which was publishing Consumer Price Index and trade data every month.
Besides that, every Thursday, the SBP releases weekly details of foreign reserves and PBS releases weekly data on the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) each Friday. According to the ministry, even the advanced countries including those in the West don’t release data this efficiently or timely.
Regarding current accounts, it is important to differentiate between sustainable and unsustainable deficits as for the first time in ten years, exports have enhanced, remittances have been channeled through more official sources, and services exports have been growing at a faster pace.
Encouragingly, the import growth trend is now reversing and moving towards Covid-time level of deficits. It further added that in February, 2022, the trade deficit decreased by 10% month on month basis, with exports growing to a worth of $ 2.8 billion and imports decreasing to $5.9 billion from almost $8 billion in December.
While PBS and SBP do publish weekly and monthly updates on prices through the SPI and CPI, respectively, to claim that it is the only country to do so is a stretch. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes monthly CPI updates in the US and speaking of Western countries, this is a pretty standard practice there.
Furthermore, it is important to note that for the data and indicators that are published, there are many more indicators that are due but have not been updated in a good while. For instance, the Labour Force Survey which is supposed to be conducted by PBS in Pakistan annually, hasn’t been carried out since 2018. This means that many important indicators such as the labor force participation rate, employment, and unemployment rates have not been updated in a long time.
Issues arise when PBS and affiliated bodies are unable to carry out data collection on time and keep putting off the necessary assignments in lieu of the next. The results of the Labour Force Survey for 2018-2019 were not published until September 2021, while the survey for 2019 – 2020 did not take place owing to preparations for an extensive survey that was to be held for 2020 – 2021. The results of this survey are not available as of yet and preparations for the 7th census are underway.
As for the question of transparency, PBS and SBP make their reports, summaries, and raw data publicly available on their websites. Studying these reports help understand the validity of the data collected. For instance, as part of the quantum index of large-scale manufacturing industries (LSM) rebasing, a closer look at the data shows that a major chunk of data for certain industrial units in Sindh is missing. The report admits that unavailability of data forced them to alternatively use monthly exports value for the categories of wearing apparel, footballs, furniture and towels, instead of production value. This has led to an overrepresented growth in the rebased LSM.
Given that such issues persist in data collection, experts say that it would be more prudent of the government to recognise the shortcomings in the present system at the same time as it highlights the accomplishments.
