The Senate Standing Committee on Statistics was informed on Friday that according to the documented data obtained from the State Bank of Pakistan, the country has services sector exports amounting to $4-5 billion. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini at the Parliament House and was attended among others by Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, Dr Asif Kirmani, Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum (Retd), Dr Musaddik Malik, Syed Shibli Faraz and senior officials from the ministry.
The committee members observed that a high degree of services sector exports is unreported and undocumented. The committee decided to invite all relevant authorities from Ministry of Commerce, the Federal Board of Revenue and the State Bank of Pakistan to the next meeting to get a comprehensive outlook of the matter.
The committee members emphasised the significance of the work of Statistics Bureau, terming it an important stakeholder in guiding the policy decisions relating to exports and imports, agriculture, industry, education and many other aspects of civic life in the country.
The members stressed that while having the data provided to stakeholders is important, the accuracy of the statistical data is also of equal significance.
In the next meeting of the committee, the ministry will come up with a detailed briefing on the sources of their data, challenges in obtaining data and in getting their observations heard, details of coding procedures, recommendations to help in policy formulation and having the correct ratio of growth and employment rates on the basis of different sectors including agriculture, industry, skilled services, education among others.