Savings and Financial Flows in the Corporate Sector, 1959-63
In: The Pakistan development review: PDR, Volume 7, Issue 3, p. 283-316
In common with most developing countries, the statistical
information about savings in Pakistan is weak and incomplete. Some
studies were made in the recent past [1(a), pp.1-50; 1(b), pp.163-208]
but these relate to specific sectors of the economy, or they are based
on one statistical source and may, therefore, be inconsistent with data
from other sources. The only comprehensive estimate is produced annually
by the Planning Commission as a corollary of its work on national
accounts and investment expenditures. Recent evaluation reports [2(a),
pp.5-9; 2(b), pp.21-25] have contained estimates of national gross
savings calculated as the difference between the investment expenditures
on one side, and external financing on the other. As the investment
estimates are derived from data on key inputs [2(a), pp.173-181; 2(b),
pp.137-144]—machinery, transport equipment, steel and cement—com¬bined
with a more detailed estimate for one year used as the benchmark, there
probably is a significant standard error of estimate here. With regard
to external finance, the balance of payments data used are probably more
accurate than the investment figures, but are also inadequate, notably
with regard to foreign private investment and technical
assistance.