November 26, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 4, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday set up a committee to monitor the entire process of statistics collection, compilation and analysis, particularly the figures regarding industrial production.

Chairing a meeting at Prime Minister’s House on Saturday to review the large scale manufacturing statistics, the prime minister said the availability of accurate data played a critical role in future planning and development of the country.

The government, he said, would continue to improve the system of data collection, compilation and analysis to make it more suitable for the future planning. The committee comprises the ministry of industries, the Planning Commission, the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), the CBR and the ministry of finance.

Mr Aziz asked the FBS to complete the next Census for Manufacturing Industries (CMI) as soon as possible. He also asked the ministry of industries to broaden the scope of data collection and involve industry associations in the process.

Reviewing the industrial output, the prime minister said the share of industrial sector in overall GDP increased from 23 per cent to 26 per cent during the last seven years. He said the industrial sector continues to maintain the strong growth momentum and it was heartening to note that the growth of large scale manufacturing in the first quarter of the current financial year was in double digit.

Mr Aziz said the share of large scale manufacturing in GDP also increased from 10pc to close to 13pc. He reviewed the entire process of industrial statistics.