ISLAMABAD, April 26: The base year for calculation of national accounts has been changed to depict the actual performance of economy and variables. Such a revision should be undertaken every five to seven years.

Pakistan had revised its base year for national income accounts for the first time in 1961-62, then in 1987-88 and then in the year 2004.

The new base year 2005-06 will replace the old one of 1999-2000 by implementation of new censuses, surveys, studies, new price basis, new concepts and changes in classification, said Secretary, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Sohail Ahmad on Thursday.

According to the revised data, GDP and the overall economic growth since 2005-06 did not change so much as compared to the old data base. But at a lower level of details, the picture of the inner structure of economy has been repainted.

Agriculture has gained weight, mainly at the cost of the industrial sector.

In the new base year 2005-06, the share of agriculture in GDP went up from 19 to 23 per cent while for mining, manufacturing, construction and energy, gas and water supply the rebasing resulted in a lower share in the economy going down to 21 per cent from 25 per cent.

The share of services has slightly been enhanced from 49 to 50 per cent.

The overall GDP at market prices for the new base year has slightly decreased by 0.4 per cent. As a result, the average annual growth rate between 2005-06 and 2010-11 decreased from 3.7 per cent to 2.9 per cent.

Another important component of this rebasing is to implement as far as possible the internationally agreed standards for National Accounts. They are outlined in a conceptual framework called “System of National Accounts”, released by United Nations.With the rebasing 2005-06, Pakistan will finally focus on GDP instead of GNP.