The Ministry of Commerce and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Commerce on Monday that two institutions under the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) — Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) and Pakistan Single Window (PSW) — were responsible for an $11 billion discrepancy in import data reported last year.
Briefing the committee, officials from the Ministry of Commerce explained that the difference arose due to inconsistencies between the import data reported by PBS, PRAL, and PSW. The ministry emphasized that a formal clarification on this issue is necessary.
Officials stressed that the matter is statistical and procedural, not financial, clarifying that there is a key distinction between trade data and actual monetary flows — the latter being recorded by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
According to the ministry, the discrepancy does not affect Pakistan’s balance of payments, since the SBP records only those foreign exchange transactions conducted through the formal banking system. The balance of payments reflects verified inflows and outflows, not merely declarative or customs data. Therefore, the $11 billion difference has no impact on external account stability.
PBS officials told the committee that for the past two years, trade data had been sourced from PRAL. However, data under the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) was not included in PRAL’s import records, leading to the reported discrepancy. They added that since data collection shifted to the Pakistan Single Window (PSW), such inconsistencies have not recurred.
The committee’s chairman noted that the issue stems from a data coordination gap between two FBR-affiliated entities, a point acknowledged by both the Ministry of Commerce and PBS officials.
Import transaction data is recorded in the WeBOC system through electronic goods declarations submitted by importers. PRAL compiles import data files based on these declarations and provides them to relevant ministries and departments as needed. A key column in these files — “Goods Declaration Type” — indicates whether items were imported under the Export Facilitation Scheme or for domestic use.
The committee directed PBS to coordinate closely with PRAL and PSW to ensure such discrepancies do not occur in the future. It was reiterated that the inconsistency arose solely due to differences in data between the two FBR-linked systems, while the State Bank’s records remain based strictly on verified bank transactions.
