A report published on 29 October has questioned Pakistan's stabilisation narrative, arguing that revised national accounts contradict the government's recent picture. The report, carried by the Indian news agency IANS and based on an article on the Greek website Directus, says the National Accounts Committee recorded growth of 2.0 per cent in the final quarter of the last financial year and revised the annual figure down to 3.65 per cent.

A report published on 29 October

At the centre of the argument is a revision to import data covering five financial years, adding as much as $14.8 billion to previously recorded imports after compilation moved from the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited system to the Pakistan Single Window. The report presents that revision as evidence that the external accounts behind the stabilisation story were wrong throughout the period; the committee itself described the change as a statistical revision; it does not mean new imports arrived in October.

IMF outlook lower than official forecast

The report also cites the International Monetary Fund's regional assessment this month, which it says declined to endorse Pakistan's official account on almost every count. According to the report, the IMF projects a current-account deficit near 1 per cent of output, roughly $4.5 billion, against Islamabad's estimate of about $2.5 billion, and growth of 3.5 per cent, below the official 4 per cent forecast.

What the official figures do show

The underlying official figures are not new: the committee approved them on 19 October, reporting industry contracting by 4.7 per cent in the April-June quarter and electricity, gas and water supply shrinking by 33.2 per cent. The dispute is about interpretation, not whether the revised figures exist, and the "fudged figures" label remains the report's claim, not an established finding.

Sources: IANS, Particle News (official NAC figures).