IMF asks Pakistan to improve economic disclosure

Asks for quarterly reporting of national accounts and growth estimates.

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund has asked Pakistan to bring its Special Data Dissemination Standards at par with international requirements by ensuring quarterly reporting of economic growth statistics, a recommendation if adopted is likely to address the issue of ‘doctoring of growth’ The IMF mission led by Wipada Soonthornsima of the Fiscal Department has found that Pakistan is not fully complying with the Special Data Dissemination Standards, known as SDDS.

The countries subscribing to the SDDS undertake to follow good statistical practices in data coverage and reporting, access by the public to the dissemination of advance release calendars, and simultaneous release of the data. The recipients of the data on economic growth, inflation, unemployment and poverty largely remain sceptical in Pakistan and there have been incidences of fudging of economic growth and tax collection figures.

Secretary Statistics Division Sohail Ahmad told The Express Tribune that the mission was largely appreciative of Pakistan’s reporting system. He, however, said that the IMF asked Pakistan to ensure quarterly reporting of national accounts as against the existing practice of annual reporting.

An official of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said that initially it would be difficult to give quarterly reports on national accounts but the PBS would try to give biannual reports on economic growth.

The IMF also asked Pakistan to ensure timely releases of financial accounts and periodically release debt statements. The government holds a meeting of the National Accounts Committee every year to give estimates of economic growth in the outgoing financial year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2012.