The Statistical System of Pakistan for reporting on International Trade in Services

1. The Statistical System of Pakistan for reporting on International Trade in Services By Julian Arkell- International Consultant 2006 Presented by: Samantha Jonsson -ITC (UNCTAD/WTO)

2. Project Objectives: -Assess the status of the Government of Pakistan’s work in collecting, compiling and disseminating statistics on the country’s international trade in services. ↓ -Assess implementation of the recommendations of UN-approved: Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services.

3. Key Findings: • Pakistan is well on the way to successfully track service trade statistics; • (2) Decision to begin implementing the recommendations of the UN-approved Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services;

4. Key Findings: (3)Key organisations have been given the legal authority in this area: -Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics (MEAS); -State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)

5. Key Findings: (4) The FBS has begun the inter-agency process of building a central business/enterprise register; (5) Formal overall coordination mechanism of Ministries re compilation and dissemination of services sector data: Progress Pakistan: -The Statistics Division of the FBS, has established a Technical Committee on a Business Register to harmonise the coverage -Already decided that there will be ONE statistical database- A Single Enterprise Register -Perhaps under the monitoring of the MOC Standing Committee?

6. Key Findings: (6) The SBP has devised a structure for collecting Extended Balance of Payments (EBOPS) data using their ITRS (International Trade Reporting System).  (7) The SBP is already collecting 8 of the inwards FATS (Foreign Affiliates Trade in Services) variables.

7. Consequences of not adequately tracking services’ trade statistics: • -Won’t be able to accurately grasp the importance of the services sector • -Won’t be able to accurately assess the effectiveness of services trade promotion strategies • -Won’t be able to accurately assess the impact of services trade agreements to inform negotiations • -Won’t be able to accurately analyse the pattern of service imports

8. Key messages: • -There is no reason why an economy cannot have complete and timely services trade data- it just needs to be made a priority; • -There are challenges with collection of statistics; • -Help is available • -ITC’s Trade in Services Section has some useful tools

9. Recommendations: • ConsiderTechnical recommendations • Build on the work begun • Consider working with technical experts to enhance ongoing work

10. ITC wishes to thank the following organisations in Islamabad, • Karachi & Lahore for their involvement in the study: • Ministry of Commerce • Ministry of Communication • Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics • Ministry of Finance • Ministry of Industries, Production and Special Initiatives • Ministry of Information Technology • Ministry of Labour, Manpower & Overseas Pakistanis • Ministry of Science & Technology • Pakistan Software Board • State Bank of Pakistan • Trade Development Authority of Pakistan • Air Cargo Agents Association of Pakistan • Pakistan Hotels Association • Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the WTO (Geneva)