Some Reflections on "Planning Experience in Pakistan"

In his address delivered at the 15th Annual Conference of thePakistan Economic Association, Dr. M. N. Huda has reviewed the planningexperience in Pakistan. He is eminently suited to undertake this reviewas he has been very intimately associated with the planning processes atboth the provincial and central government levels. The address, thoughbrief, raises a number of important issues in regard to the formulationand implementation of the annual and five-year plans of the country,issues which deserve serious consideration by the planning authorities.The following discussion of his address is an attempt to supplement someof the points raised' by him. With the quickening pace of economicdevelopment, the need for more and accurate data is being increasinglyfelt in the country. Lack of adequate and reliable data not only hampersthe use of sophisticated analytical tools for formulating comprehensivenational and regional plans but also adversely affects the measurementof the performance of the economy from year to year. This is not theoccasion to go into the details of the merits and demerits of thestatistical series which are now being published by various sources.Suffice it to say that there is a great need of improving the contents,quality and regular¬ity of these data. The collection of statistics isnot keeping pace with the improvements in the economic activity. Evensuch vital information as the size of population and its rate of growthis not known with any reasonable accuracy. The results of the 1961Census of Population are generally adjusted upward by 8.25 per cent forunderenumeration in the census. Similarly, the average rate ofinter-censal increase in 1961 Census was estimated to be 2.15 per centfor Pakistan, 2.36 per cent for West and 1.91 per cent for EastPakistan. The annual rate of growth of population is now assumed to be2.6 per cent although there is evidence that it exceeds 3 percent.