ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Saturday said the government believed in transparency and openness and would welcome any suggestions on improvement and reform in data gathering methodologies.
He made these remarks at a meeting with Shahid Javed Burki, former caretaker finance minister of Pakistan and former vice-president of the World Bank.
Burki, who is currently based in Washington, D.C., USA, discussed various matters related to Pakistan’s economy with the finance minister. He stated that Pakistan’s economy was performing well and there were visible improvements in the country compared to the past. He said that as a frequent traveller to the region he could see that Pakistan was doing much better than many other regional economies. He said that the general perception however was different and it was important to narrate the true and factual story of Pakistan to international audiences. He said the perception of the country could improve tremendously if the visible improvements in Pakistan are understood and acknowledged properly.
The finance minister stated that during the past three and a half years the government had focused on economic reforms and the dividends of the same were now visible. He said that it was heartening that many credible international institutions were now openly acknowledging the achievements of Pakistan that would help correct the misperceptions.
Burki appreciated the fact that the government was going to take the national census. He stated that correct and reliable data was extremely important for policy planning and the upcoming exercise will be helpful in this regard. He said that there was a need to upgrade the data collection methods so as to get a clearer picture of various sectors of economy.
The finance minister said that Pakistan had recently adopted the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) method for calculation of poverty levels instead of the outdated Food Energy Intake (FEI) method, and that under the CBN method poverty levels had reduced in Pakistan to 29.5% in FY 2014 from 64.3% in FY 2002.
The meeting was also attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Finance.