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Government fails to release quarterly growth figures
ISLAMABAD: The government has missed the deadline for releasing finalised GDP growth figures for the financial year 2013-14, it was learnt on Wednesday.
The government was reluctant to release the possibly low GDP growth figures than anticipated to avoid negative impact on its efforts for accomplishing important transactions, including OGDCL (Oil and Gas Development Company) shares’ offering and launch of Sukuk bond in international market, official sources believed.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics — national data collecting agency — is bound to release the GDP growth on quarterly basis in line with the guidelines of the International Monetary Fund in accordance with the international best practices dually approved by the government.
The PBS announced on its website that it would release the annual GDP growth figure on October 1, 2014.
The PBS high-ups argue they would not be able to release the GDP growth figures because the provinces have not provided them with data for the last quarter (April-June) of the fiscal 2013-14.
But independent economists said the growth of large scale manufacturing, which was measured at 5.4 percent on the basis of provisional figures for estimating overall annual GDP growth at 4.1 percent, declined to 3.9 percent. This is likely to revise downward the GDP growth to 3.3 percent for the last fiscal year.
Ex-finance minister Dr Hafeez A Pasha said the government would not release the finalised GDP growth numbers as it knows the figure comes down to 3.3 percent.
“The IMF had also assessed the growth at 3.3 percent and they are going to prove correct on this issue,” he added.
The PBS did not issue the GDP figures for Jan-March on the pretext, saying it would release the whole data in October 2014 after finalising the official data.
PBS officials said the provincial governments did not release data for the last quarter and therefore it was not possible for them to release any figures on the basis of any assumptions.
When asked to comment on the perception the government blocked the way for releasing the low figure of GDP growth, an official said no one barred him from releasing the data; it was not possible for the PBS to release half-cooked data.
Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa said the PBS released estimated GDP growth figure for 2013-14 on the basis of nine months data, which included the period of Jan-March 2014, so it was decided that the final figures for whole financial year would be released in October.
Pakistan has adopted special data dissemination standards of the IMF.
The Fund asked Pakistan to bring its special data dissemination standards at par with the international requirements by ensuring quarterly reporting of economic growth statistics. The guidelines are aimed at addressing the issue of transparency, timeliness, accuracy and reliability of official data that becomes base for key economic policy decisions.
Government fails to release quarterly growth figures - thenews.com.pk
ISLAMABAD: The government has missed the deadline for releasing finalised GDP growth figures for the financial year 2013-14, it was learnt on Wednesday.
The government was reluctant to release the possibly low GDP growth figures than anticipated to avoid negative impact on its efforts for accomplishing important transactions, including OGDCL (Oil and Gas Development Company) shares’ offering and launch of Sukuk bond in international market, official sources believed.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics — national data collecting agency — is bound to release the GDP growth on quarterly basis in line with the guidelines of the International Monetary Fund in accordance with the international best practices dually approved by the government.
The PBS announced on its website that it would release the annual GDP growth figure on October 1, 2014.
The PBS high-ups argue they would not be able to release the GDP growth figures because the provinces have not provided them with data for the last quarter (April-June) of the fiscal 2013-14.
But independent economists said the growth of large scale manufacturing, which was measured at 5.4 percent on the basis of provisional figures for estimating overall annual GDP growth at 4.1 percent, declined to 3.9 percent. This is likely to revise downward the GDP growth to 3.3 percent for the last fiscal year.
Ex-finance minister Dr Hafeez A Pasha said the government would not release the finalised GDP growth numbers as it knows the figure comes down to 3.3 percent.
“The IMF had also assessed the growth at 3.3 percent and they are going to prove correct on this issue,” he added.
The PBS did not issue the GDP figures for Jan-March on the pretext, saying it would release the whole data in October 2014 after finalising the official data.
PBS officials said the provincial governments did not release data for the last quarter and therefore it was not possible for them to release any figures on the basis of any assumptions.
When asked to comment on the perception the government blocked the way for releasing the low figure of GDP growth, an official said no one barred him from releasing the data; it was not possible for the PBS to release half-cooked data.
Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa said the PBS released estimated GDP growth figure for 2013-14 on the basis of nine months data, which included the period of Jan-March 2014, so it was decided that the final figures for whole financial year would be released in October.
Pakistan has adopted special data dissemination standards of the IMF.
The Fund asked Pakistan to bring its special data dissemination standards at par with the international requirements by ensuring quarterly reporting of economic growth statistics. The guidelines are aimed at addressing the issue of transparency, timeliness, accuracy and reliability of official data that becomes base for key economic policy decisions.
Government fails to release quarterly growth figures - thenews.com.pk
