ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday directed all data producing bodies to coordinate with each other to have a consensus on a single verified statistical data system in the country.

Dar stated this while chairing 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.

He also informed participants of the meeting that during third review, International Monetary Fund agreed to revise its GDP growth, and inflation figures for Pakistan, and there is convergence that growth is moving up and inflation remains in single digit.

He further added that now the government has to make sure that reliable and transparent data is available throughout the country.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2014