Business Recorder
ISLAMABAD: Work on developing a new Producer Price Index (PPI) is likely to be deferred till October this year, a senior official of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed to this correspondent. International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its 10 October 2024 documents relating to the approval of the USD7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme noted ‘important shortcomings in the source data available for sectors accounting for around a third of GDP and supported the redressal of this weakness through technical assistance to PBS that specifically included a new Producer Price Index. As per IMF’s methodology for the manufacturing sector and industry as a whole we developed a framework for PPI Index a few months back but IMF delegation during its visit suggested some changes, a PBS official said, adding that changes in the methodology were suggested to make the PPI-based data more credible and authentic. He further contended that the PPI would enable the government to identify the role of middlemen and hoarders and “if there are discrepancies or unusual increase or decrease in the cost of production and the end consumer price the Government can easily detect the role of middleman by monitoring the trade and transport margin.” “IMF provided only technical assistance in shape of training and sharing the experiences of other countries where PPI was implemented,” the official told Business Recorder, adding that work on the pilot project would continue for another four to five months and if things work out smoothly then it would be implemented in the second quarter of financial year 2026-27. Regarding PPI for agriculture sector, he said so far very little work has been done. After 18th Amendment agriculture is a provincial subject and Crop Reporting Services are provided by the provinces to PBS, but they lack the capacity to do it as per the requirement of PPI framework. IMF, he said, adding it has requested the provinces to assist PBS in the collection of agriculture data, and they have assured their full support for this purpose. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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