The reliability of Pakistan's official data and its impact on donors and policies.
The IMF has released a 504-million-dollar tranche to Pakistan after completing the eighth quarterly review of its three-year, 6.64-billion-dollar extended fund facility (EFF) programme started in 2013. The move came despite Islamabad's failure to meet EEF conditionalities and flaws in Pakistan's official data on which the reviews are based. Concerns have also been raised by other official data such as those on population and poverty.
If the 2016 census proceeds as planned, Pakistan's political climate may see turmoil as some parties seek delimitation of constituencies.
Lack of accurate poverty and unemployment data will impede mitigation programmes, exacerbating Pakistan's development deficit.
Public trust in Pakistan's economic data will remain patchy for the foreseeable future.
