National accounts: 'Rebasing should be completed before end of financial year'

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives Secretary, Mathar Niaz Rana, emphasised that the rebasing of national accounts should be completed before the end of this financial year as so many economic indicators were linked to the rebased GDP numbers.

The secretary visited the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday and chaired a meeting on the activities of the PBS particularly on National Accounts, price statistics and the digital initiatives taken by the PBS by shifting from paper-based data collection to tablet-based data collection.

The meeting was attended by the chief economist, members, and senior officers of the PBS. The secretary was briefed about the National Accounts compilation methodology and the status of various census, surveys, and studies conducted by the PBS for rebasing the national accounts from 2005-2006 to 2015-2016.

He further directed the PBS to come up with a roadmap of the activities with timelines. He said that the PBS should understand the sensitivity of the price statistics compiled by the PBS and the data collection mechanism should be transparent as well as a true reflection of market prices prevailing in the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021