The Governing Council of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has approved the proposal of rebasing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from financial year 2007-08 to financially year 2015-16. The approval was given in the 17th meeting of the Governing Council of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, presided over by Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Khusro Bakhtyar in his capacity as Chairman of the Council held on Monday.
The rebasing was long overdue and the exercise was completed in December 2017 and technical committee has cleared it for presentation in the Council. Under the new base, the PBS will compile Urban Consumer Price Index (UCPI), Rural Consumer Price Index (RCPI) and National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) on monthly basis. Previously, PBS only compiled Urban Consumer Price Index to determine inflation in the country on monthly basis.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Khusro Bakhtyar emphasised the need for authentic data collection for better policy and decision-making. He said that PBS should devise a mechanism to deliver more reliable official figures relating to economy, population, agriculture, trade and other areas. The minister stressed the need for ascertaining the real impact of gas and electricity price increases as well as prices of essential food items on consumers falling in different categories. He apprised that poor consumers falling in the lowest slab have not been affected much by increase in prices of gas and electricity due to protective cover given by the government.
The meeting was apprised that 5th meeting of the Governing Council of PBS had decided to rebase the National Accounts Committee and Price Statistics after every 10 years. Subsequently, a technical committee under the chairmanship of ex-vice chancellor PIDE, Dr Asad Zaman was constituted which recommended changing the base. It is pertinent to mention here that new base will be published after the approval by the ECC.
Various other agenda items also came under discussion during the meeting. Regarding the appointment of chief statistician, the minister directed to expedite the process for smooth functioning of PBS. It was also decided that PBS will conduct Pakistan Demographic Survey (PDS) periodically and try to resolve the issue in consultation with Nadra and local governments. The PDS is critical for capturing changing demographic patterns in the country.