ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally joined the International Monetary Fund’s General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) to help improve transparency and credibility of its economic numbers.
A Fund’s statement says Pakistan’s participation marks a step forward in the development of statistical systems. Comprehensive information on its statistical production and dissemination practices were published for the first time on the GDDS website.
Generally, economic and social statistics compiled by the developing countries, including Pakistan, lack reliability and timeliness. In case of Pakistan, the problem compounded after fiscal data fudging incidence in late 90s, when about Rs 90 billion was not reported properly to hide the true picture of budget deficit and borrowings.
In social sectors, the data on poverty, unemployment, literacy and other indicators has also remained controversial, due to last minute efforts to “clean up” the numbers. Stakeholders question the official poverty estimate of 32.1 per cent, and people doubt the Ministry of Finance’s claims about improvement in the macroeconomic situation.
“I am pleased to know that Pakistan will formally begin participation in the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System (GDDS),” Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said in the statement. Pakistan places a high priority on quality statistics and believes in transparency, he said, adding that participation represents another milestone in the continuing improvements to the statistical standards of Pakistan. Various agencies responsible for Pakistan’s statistics will continue to make efforts to improve the existing statistical system of the country, he maintained.
Carol S. Carson, director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, said the commitment being made to improve statistics is an important one. She also welcomed the publication of Pakistan’s metadata on the bulletin board and noted that Pakistan has taken the lead in implementing the recent board’s decision to include the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) indicators in the framework of the GDDS.
Pakistan’s metadata for socio-demographic indicators make explicit references to the MDGs. The GDDS, established by the IMF in 1997, provides a framework to assist member countries to develop statistical systems to produce comprehensive and accurate statistics for policy-making and analysis.
In addition, the website shows Pakistan’s plans for improvements in its statistics infrastructure and the related technical assistance needs. This information provides the international community with a useful framework to develop and coordinate their technical cooperation projects in Pakistan, IMF said. Pakistan has joined 65 other countries in the IMF’s GDDS programme.
A step in the right direction. We can now start trusting the govt. figures more than before. Not that this govt. has been accused of fudging numbers, but I must give them credit for taking this bold step. All the looters before these people refused to adopt a transparent system to hide their corruption. Not anymore.:k: