ISLAMABAD: The Finance Minister Ishaq Dar lauded the achievements of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). He also congratulated the staff who worked hard on this assignment. Chairing the 7th meeting of the PBS Governing Council, here Dar dilated at length on the overall functioning of the Council as well as activities of PBS regarding conduct of surveys/censuses on matters of national significance including population census, which was of prime importance.
At the outset of the meeting, the Finance Minister welcomed all the members to the first meeting of the re-constituted Council and wished them “all the best” in their future assignments. The Member Secretary of the Council briefed the meeting about the performance of the PBS and apprised all members about the implementation status of the decisions taken in the 6th meeting. The meeting was informed about the progress made on the decisions regarding change of base year for the purpose of GDP estimation, Gross Fixed Capital Formation from 2005 to 2015-16 and similarly, the change of base year for computation of price indices from 2007-8 to 2015-16.
The meeting thereafter discussed updating of sampling frame for urban and rural areas of the country for conducting of sample surveys and censuses. The Member-Secretary briefed about the process of up-gradation and use of GPS devices for this purpose. He explained that after completion of this exercise, PBS will be able to give complete digitized maps showing detailed information and land marks in the concerned area. The meeting was informed that the entire urban area comprising of 48052 enumeration blocks have already been updated from PBS resources, whereas up-gradation of rural area frame is being planned for which PC-1 amounting to Rs. 306 million has been prepared and submitted to Planning Division for approval. Meeting was informed that PBS has initiated updating work in the rural areas with the financial support of UNFPA and updated 8718 enumeration blocks so far.T he chair appreciated the efforts made by the PBS in this regard.
