Economic Agents Network (EAN)

Listening to the Economy in Real-time

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) established the Economic Agents Network (EAN) to strengthen its understanding of real-economy through structured, on-ground engagement with businesses and other economic stakeholders. By holding discussions with representatives from the industry, services, and agriculture sectors, the EAN complements official statistics and financial market indicators by providing timely qualitative insights on emerging trends, bottlenecks, expectations, and risks across regions and sectors.

This is in line with international best practices as Central banks increasingly rely on anecdotal evidence to complement traditional macroeconomic data, particularly where official statistics are released with lags or subject to revisions. Prominent examples include the US Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, the Bank of England’s Agents’ Network and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Liaison Program.

The EAN conducts regular engagements with stakeholders across major sectors of the economy to gather timely insights on emerging economic developments and policy issues. The network currently operates through dedicated teams based in Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad. Through structured consultations, primarily face-to-face interviews with senior business leaders and other key informants in major economic centers, the EAN collects information on a broad range of indicators, including demand and supply conditions, input cost pressures, pricing behavior, employment trends, financing conditions, and business expectations across the manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors.

The insights gathered through these consultations are synthesized and presented to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), where they help inform discussions and refine macroeconomic projections. These findings are also compiled into quarterly reports for public dissemination. These quarterly publications reflect discussions with agriculture and business contacts, and do not represent the views of SBP officials.

All information shared by stakeholders is treated with strict confidentiality and reported only in aggregated form, thereby preserving respondents’ trust and safeguarding the integrity of the network.

EAN Publications