Islamabad, Pakistan
Zahid Asghar
Member (Economic Statistics)
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Government of Pakistan
For more than two decades I have taught, researched and argued about one question: how well does Pakistan measure its own economy? I have now moved from asking that question at the university to working on the answer inside the national statistics office.
A new chapter at the Bureau
I have joined the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics as Member (Economic Statistics). For years my work has circled the same questions: how prices are measured, how industrial output is counted, and how official numbers can earn public trust. Now I get to work on them from the inside, alongside the people who produce Pakistan's official statistics.
My portfolio covers economic statistics and, more recently, social statistics as well. My priorities are data literacy, both within the Bureau and among the people who use its numbers, and bringing machine learning and new data sources responsibly into the production of official statistics. Read the announcement.
What I work on
Six threads run through my research, teaching and public writing.
Measuring the economy
Price indices, GDP base-year revisions and industrial statistics. My 2008 paper on biases in Pakistan's CPI was one of the first systematic critiques of how we measure prices.
Official statistics for the data age
Machine learning in official statistics, multi-source and administrative data, and a national data infrastructure that connects surveys, registers and new digital sources.
Applied econometrics
Causal inference, graph-theoretic causality, time series and forecasting, published in Taylor & Francis, Springer, SAGE and Elsevier journals.
AI and data governance
How public institutions can use AI responsibly, and why Pakistan's AI ambitions depend first on good data rather than hype.
Data skills for development
R, Quarto and reproducible research for economists, civil servants and students, with more than 60 open repositories of teaching material.
Human development
Food security, nutrition, health and education spending, studied through Pakistan's household surveys.
Selected work
A few places to start reading.
A Vision for National Statistics: Building Pakistan's National Data Infrastructure
How Pakistan can move from separate surveys to an integrated statistical system.
Machine Learning, Big Data and AI in Economics
Open course site for MS students, with lectures and hands-on labs.
Time Series Econometrics and Macroeconomic Forecasting
Lectures and code for forecasting Pakistan's macroeconomy.
Pakistan's AI Policy: A Vision Without Teeth
What the National AI Policy gets right, what it leaves out, and what must change.
AI journey: fuelled by data, not hype
Why Pakistan's AI readiness starts with its data systems.
Biases in Consumer Price Index Methodology in Pakistan
With Mahmood Khalid. The Pakistan Development Review.
Roles and affiliations
Where I have worked and served.
Now
- Member (Economic Statistics)Pakistan Bureau of Statistics
- Member, Research Advisory CommitteeRASTA Competitive Grants Programme, PIDE
Previously at QAU
- Professor and DirectorSchool of Economics
- RegistrarQuaid-i-Azam University
- ChairmanDepartment of Statistics
Also
- Senior facultyNational Institute of Banking and Finance, State Bank of Pakistan
- TrainerR, econometrics and AI workshops for government, central bank and development professionals
- ColumnistThe News and Daily Times
Get in touch
For research collaboration, training requests or questions about my writing, email is the best way to reach me. For official PBS matters, please contact the Bureau directly.
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