IMF to review PBS methodologies

ISLAMABAD: A team of International Monetary Fund (IMF) will review working and methodologies of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in a visit from April 1, a senior official said on Friday.

“The team would remain in Pakistan for 12 days and would check and review the transparency in mechanism for procuring data in various sectors,” Secretary Statistics Division Shaista Sohail said, briefing the senate standing committee on statistics.

Sohail said the IMF team visited two years back and suggested some methodologies to improve the working and transparency of the division, which are being implemented.

The secretary said there is no external influence on the working of the PBS, which is autonomous and independent.

With respect to the announcement of gross domestic product (GDP) data, the secretary said the GDP data is announced on annual basis until now, while the data would be given on quarterly basis from next year. Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini, chairman of the committee directed the statistics division to make it more efficient and progressive.