Finance Ministry has reportedly presented three-month-old data of key economic indicators at the recent meeting of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, it was learnt. An official said that a summary for the ECC on July 3 2012 was submitted that contained economic indictors for the month of March and April 2012 instead of the latest figures for the months of May and June.
The ECC was informed that Pakistan had 11.3 per cent inflation in April 2012. Figures cited for other regional countries during the meeting were for March 2012: India 9.5 per cent, Bangladesh 10.1 per cent, Sri Lanka 5.7 percent, and China 3.6 per cent. Pakistan has been experiencing double digit inflation for the last couple of years unlike other regional countries.
A high level official, on condition of anonymity, told this correspondent that the credibility and accuracy of growth and inflation figures were questionable during the Shaukat Aziz era, however, in a recent meeting of the Federal Cabinet, displeasure over unrealistic inflationary figures in the country was voiced by many cabinet members.
The members of the Federal Cabinet have reportedly challenged the price of essential commodities given by the Ministry of Finance and have asked for the market and towns where these prices were gathered. An official said that accuracy of data is essential for short and long term policy formulation because a plan''s efficacy depends upon accuracy of data which has to be rigorously analysed prior to formulating appropriate strategies. He emphasised that an independent and autonomous Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), free of political involvement and the government intervention is critical to ensure transparent and accurate data.
The government merged Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), the Population Census Organisation (PCO), and the Agriculture Census Organisation (ACO) into PBS to make it an autonomous body but it still has a long way to go to get true independence and thereby ensure accurate, transparent and reliable data of various sector of the economy to be used as base for future planning, he added.
The ECC meeting was informed that the reported stock of wheat as on May 8, 2012 stood at 3.6 million tons, showing adequate quantity of local wheat available for daily releases to mills by provincial food departments and PASSCO.
The total required stock of sugar in the country as on May 9, 2012 was slightly over 3,113,532 metric tons, compared to 2,724.470 metric tons last year 11 May, 2011. The stock of various POL products averaged 16 days on May 10, 2012 compared to 12 days on May 10, 2011.
The ECC was informed that the latest economic indicators give mixed signs with production in Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) at -3.7 percent in March 2012 as compared to 11.6 percent in the same period last year; however LSM output increased by 1.8 percent as compared to 1.1 percent during the same period last year on average for the period July-March.
The items which registered a price decline are Iron and Steel products, Coke Petroleum products, Electronics, Chemicals, Rubber Products, Automobiles, Engineering Products and Fertilisers. The items which registered a price increase are food beverage & tobacco, pharmaceuticals, non metallic mineral products, paper & board, textile, leather products and wood products. The ECC was informed that Saudi Arabia, UAE, and UK have been the largest source of remittances and gross foreign exchange reserves (including FCA deposits with scheduled banks) stood at US $16.1 billion as on May 11, 2012.
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