Pakistan to Rebase GDP to 2025-26 After Decade-Long Gap

Pakistan’s government has approved changing the base year for its national accounts to 2025-26 from 2015-16, ending a decade-long pause and paving the way for a recalculation of the country’s gross domestic product to reflect structural shifts in the economy.

The move will allow authorities to add emerging businesses, exclude closed firms, and revise sectoral weights used to calculate growth, reported a national daily.

Officials also revised the project’s cost to Rs. 903.4 million from Rs 608 million after expanding the scope to include 12 additional surveys, primarily aimed at capturing the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Pakistan last rebased its national accounts to 2015-16, replacing the earlier 2005-06 benchmark. Under the new framework, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics will conduct 52 surveys and studies, up from 46 initially planned, to improve estimates of GDP, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) and expenditure components.

The revamp will expand coverage across agriculture, industry, energy, construction and services, while updating deflators and input-output ratios. Authorities also plan to enhance the implementation of the System of National Accounts 2008 and introduce a Producer Price Index (PPI) for the first time into the country’s statistical system.

The rebasing will also support evaluation of sector-wise investment through updated GFCF estimates and help incorporate new indicators such as natural capital accounts. A feasibility study to establish a Statistical Research and Training Institute is also part of the revised project.

By modernizing its statistical base, Pakistan aims to provide investors, policymakers and businesses with more accurate measures of economic size and momentum, aligning its data framework with international standards and improving confidence in official growth numbers.