ISLAMABAD, April 29: After a delay of one year, the Governing Council of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday approved the rebasing for calculation of national accounts.

Dr Shahid Amjad, adviser to the prime minister on finance and also chairman of the council, changed the base year for calculation of national accounts from 1999-2000 to 2005-06 to depict the actual performance of the economy and variables.

As per rebasing, the size of the GDP now expands to Rs7,716bn from Rs7,159bn in the previous base year, reflecting an increase of 7.8 per cent (Rs557 billion).

The size of the GDP is the outcome of changes in procedures, methodology for calculating various indicators, expansion of coverage to more sectors and corrections in the existing sectors. Double counting, omissions and errors have also been rectified.

The re-basing is now believed to make the system more advanced and on a par with the international system. Some missing areas like stone crushing industry, stock exchanges, brokers, cable operators, internet providers etc., are now part of the economy.

A senior official of the PBS told Dawn that the budget proposals for 2013-14 would be based on the new figures, which will be finalised by end of this week. “We are now working on calculating new growth figures on the basis of new base year”, the official added.

Last year, the base year was revised ahead of the budget, but the then finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had reversed the process to show good feel figures.

Since July 2012, the rebasing was on the agenda of the PBS governing council but no meeting was convened.

The growth in the size of overall economy was mainly driven by an increase of 14.47 per cent (Rs547bn) in the share of services sector to GDP.

In the services sector, the share of wholesale and retail increased by 20.68pc (Rs261bn); transport, storage and communication 5.61pc (Rs51bn); housing services (owner of dwelling) by 172.97pc (Rs320bn); general government services 5.1pc (Rs21bn).

However, the share of two services finance and insurance; other private services dipped by 22.2pc (Rs81bn) and 3.82pc (Rs25bn), respectively.

With the introduction of Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM) in the banking and insurance sector, the contribution of the sector had been measured based on the services provided.

The share of overall agriculture sector in GDP increased by 21.82pc (Rs318bn). The share of crops increased by 21.01pc (Rs133bn), livestock 21.5pc (Rs165bn), forestry 21.4pc (Rs6bn), fishing 43.4pc (Rs13bn).

In the crops, the share of major crops dropped by 3.23pc (Rs15bn). However, major increase of over 52pc (Rs89bn) was witnessed in the share of minor crops. As part of the new base year, the share of cotton ginning/others were also calculated as part of crops.Earlier, cotton measurement was part of the manufacturing sector.

Ironically, the share of industrial sector in the size of overall economy dipped by 16pc (Rs308bn), reflecting a trend of de-industrialisation.

Of these the share of manufacturing dipped by 22.31pc (Rs306bn) in the industrial sector. However, mining and quarrying witnessed an increase of 15.9pc (Rs35bn).In the manufacturing sector, the share of LSM dipped by 9.97pc (Rs100bn); small scale manufacturing 63.82pc (Rs157bn) and slaughtering 40.16pc (Rs49bn), respectively.

On the other hand, the share of electricity generation and distribution and gas distribution share in the overall economy size dropped by 39pc (Rs43bn). However, the construction share increased by 3.22 pc (Rs6bn).

An official statement issued said the need for rebasing was discussed in light of the improvements in the international statistical systems. Pakistan having adopted SNA 2008 needs to incorporate that system. Additionally prices have been rebased 2007-2008. Data resources for rebasing were also presented to the house.

It was submitted before the council that with the adoption of the latest system, and as a result of latest economic classifications (ISIC, CPC, COICOP, COFOG, etc.), some shifting has taken place among the sectors and sub sectors. In the compilation of national accounts detailed results of housing and population, agriculture and livestock censuses have been utilised.