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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASALAHORE: Automotive industry stakeholders and policy experts have raised concerns over apparent contradictions in official government data, warning that flawed statistics could result in resource misallocation and adversely affect Pakistan’s two-wheeler manufacturing ecosystem.
The concerns centre on the recently published Pakistan Climate Prosperity Plan (CPP), a government blueprint aimed at addressing climate vulnerability and mobilising green investment. The plan estimates that Pakistan has 10 million motorcycles on the road, collectively consuming USD 6 billion to USD 8 billion worth of fuel annually.
Industry veterans and data analysts have questioned the accuracy of the estimate, saying it does not appear consistent with sovereign financial data. According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) figures for FY26, the country’s total imports of refined petroleum products stood at USD 6.2 billion, while crude oil imports were recorded at USD 6.8 billion.
“Any basic analysis shows that imported petroleum products include all fuel categories, such as High-Speed Diesel (HSD), jet fuel and motor spirit (petrol),” said Tauqir Ahmed, an automotive industry veteran and road safety expert.
“We also know that some petrol is produced locally from imported crude oil. It is therefore difficult to reconcile the claim that two-wheelers alone consume USD 6 billion to USD 8 billion worth of fuel. This would imply that motorcycles account for almost the entire refined petroleum import bill, leaving little or nothing for commercial trucks, cars and public transport,” he added.
The official data also appears to contain a discrepancy regarding the number of two-wheelers operating in the country. While the CPP puts the number of active motorcycles at 10 million, the government’s Economic Survey of Pakistan, covering data up to March 2026, reports 31.9 million two-wheelers on the road.
Tauqir said both figures could not accurately represent the same vehicle population.
“Considering the average life of a two-wheeler in Pakistan and the country’s challenging economic conditions, the number of units currently plying on the roads may be somewhere between 16 million and 18 million,” he said.
“This misleading narrative could result in the misallocation of already scarce national resources,” he warned, adding that inaccurate data and policy decisions based on it could have serious implications for the domestic automotive supply chain.
The discrepancies come at a time when Pakistan is under pressure to improve the quality, consistency and transparency of its economic data. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also stressed the adoption of internationally recognised Government Finance Statistics (GFS) standards to improve the consistency and reliability of fiscal data, he observed.
SM Ishtiaq, Chief Executive of MSM Engineering, said the automotive sector was already facing severe economic pressures, which, in his view, had been compounded by an auto policy that favoured importers over local vehicle and parts manufacturers, despite the latter generating employment across the country.
“A major factor behind our problems is either the absence or lack of authenticity of the data on which our policies are based,” he said. He urged policymakers to base national economic and environmental policies on verified, evidence-based data rather than assumptions or unverified institutional estimates.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
LAHORE: Automotive industry stakeholders and policy experts have raised concerns over apparent contradictions in official government data, warning that flawed statistics could result in resource misallocation and adversely affect Pakistan’s two-wheeler manufacturing ecosystem.
The concerns centre on the recently published Pakistan Climate Prosperity Plan (CPP), a government blueprint aimed at addressing climate vulnerability and mobilising green investment. The plan estimates that Pakistan has 10 million motorcycles on the road, collectively consuming USD 6 billion to USD 8 billion worth of fuel annually.
Industry veterans and data analysts have questioned the accuracy of the estimate, saying it does not appear consistent with sovereign financial data. According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) figures for FY26, the country’s total imports of refined petroleum products stood at USD 6.2 billion, while crude oil imports were recorded at USD 6.8 billion.
“Any basic analysis shows that imported petroleum products include all fuel categories, such as High-Speed Diesel (HSD), jet fuel and motor spirit (petrol),” said Tauqir Ahmed, an automotive industry veteran and road safety expert.
“We also know that some petrol is produced locally from imported crude oil. It is therefore difficult to reconcile the claim that two-wheelers alone consume USD 6 billion to USD 8 billion worth of fuel. This would imply that motorcycles account for almost the entire refined petroleum import bill, leaving little or nothing for commercial trucks, cars and public transport,” he added.
The official data also appears to contain a discrepancy regarding the number of two-wheelers operating in the country. While the CPP puts the number of active motorcycles at 10 million, the government’s Economic Survey of Pakistan, covering data up to March 2026, reports 31.9 million two-wheelers on the road.
Tauqir said both figures could not accurately represent the same vehicle population.
“Considering the average life of a two-wheeler in Pakistan and the country’s challenging economic conditions, the number of units currently plying on the roads may be somewhere between 16 million and 18 million,” he said.
“This misleading narrative could result in the misallocation of already scarce national resources,” he warned, adding that inaccurate data and policy decisions based on it could have serious implications for the domestic automotive supply chain.
The discrepancies come at a time when Pakistan is under pressure to improve the quality, consistency and transparency of its economic data. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also stressed the adoption of internationally recognised Government Finance Statistics (GFS) standards to improve the consistency and reliability of fiscal data, he observed.
SM Ishtiaq, Chief Executive of MSM Engineering, said the automotive sector was already facing severe economic pressures, which, in his view, had been compounded by an auto policy that favoured importers over local vehicle and parts manufacturers, despite the latter generating employment across the country.
“A major factor behind our problems is either the absence or lack of authenticity of the data on which our policies are based,” he said. He urged policymakers to base national economic and environmental policies on verified, evidence-based data rather than assumptions or unverified institutional estimates.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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