I read with great interest Hafiz Pasha's article in yesterday's paper. He has argued that the Bureau of Statistics has grossly overstated the growth rate of large-scale manufacturing for the period July to February 2017-18. Against the claimed growth rate of 6.2%, Hafiz estimates it to have been below 4%.
As an example of the misleading report from the Bureau he points out that the Bureau has stated that cigarette production increased by 90% during this period. As someone who has been connected with the cigarette industry for the last 15 years, I can confirm that reliable statistics confirm that overall cigarette consumption in Pakistan continues to decline by a little over 0.1% annually. The evidence for the period in question is no different. As such, Hafiz Pasha's conclusion that the increase was in the tax-paid sector, and not in the overall production of cigarettes, is absolutely sound.
It is disturbing to note that the Bureau of Statistics can be responsible for such a howler! The incoming government could do itself, and the Pakistani public, much service by making the Bureau truly independent and by upgrading its quality.
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