ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that due to better economic performance, the international financial institutions including World Bank and Asian Development Bank were back in business with Pakistan after lapse of five to seven years.
He was talking to Zakaria Usman, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), who called on him to discuss issues related to the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2014-15.
The finance minister said that the economy had performed much better as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The revenue collection was Rs 1,745 billion in July-April 2013-14 against Rs1,509 in the corresponding period of last fiscal year, registering an increase of 15.6 pc, he added.
Similarly, he said, the budget deficit decreased to 4pc as compared to 5.5 pc in the same period. Trade deficit was down by 2.5 pc and GDP growth rate 4.1pc as compared to 3.4pc in first half of the financial year, he added.
The FPCCI President appreciated steps taken by the government to put the economy back on track and assured the minister that the business community was with the government in reforming the system.
He informed the Finance Minister that he and his delegation had very useful meetings with the FBR officials. Proposals had been forwarded to the officials concerned for consideration in the next budget, he added.
Meanwhile, Ishaq Dar directed all data producing bodies to coordinate with each other to have a consensus on a single verified statistical data system in the country.
He was presiding over a meeting of data producers, including Finance Division, Economic Affairs Division, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and regulatory bodies regarding coordination of statistical data here at the finance ministry.
The minister talked about the inconsistency and discrepancies of statistical data and lack of coordination among the data producing institutions of the federal government.
Furthermore, he said that due to this incongruity in the data many institutions along with the international donor agencies do not get to collect reliable and verified data, used for various purposes.
He also advised these institutions to conduct regular joint meetings to monitor and review the whole process of data collection and verification.
PBS Chairman Asif Bajwa also emphasised on credibility of the statistical data.
Former governor State Bank of Pakistan Ishrat Husain accentuated upon the requirement of primary producers of statistical data, as all the data available is of secondary nature.
The minister said that the government had already decided to issue quarterly data instead of publishing yearly data.
