ISLAMABAD: The country’s trade data is said to have been overreported by USD6.4 billion by Pakistan Bureau of statistics (PBS) during the fiscal year 2024-25 due to flawed methodology. Insiders revealed a discrepancy of USD 1-1.5 billion between Aptma’s compilation of cotton import figure of USD 2.2 billion (State Bank of Pakistan) against USD 2.65 billion (Pral) in FY25, while Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in its trade release for June 2025 reported only USD 1.27 billion worth of cotton imports in FY25.
According to the insiders, upon investigation, the following was confirmed by PBS: (i) transaction-wise import data is recorded in the WEBOC system through electronic goods declarations submitted by the importer; (ii) based on this, import data files are created by Pral on a regular basis using a query that filters relevant data, and circulated to relevant ministries and departments per their requirements; (iii) one of the columns in the data is the “Goods Declaration Type” that references the group/policy/scheme under which the goods have been imported, for example, under the Export Facilitation Scheme or for Home Consumption, etc.
As new schemes are implemented by the government, the categories in the GD type are also expanded. Originally there were 8 categories, and over the years these have increased to around 16 categories.
