The Caretaker Minister for Planning Muhammad Sami Saeed on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) to review the prices of essential commodities.
The Chief Statistician, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) presented an overview of the price situation in the country for the week ended on 11th January and apprised the meeting that SPI increased by 1.4 percent over previous week (WoW) and increased to 44.2 percent over corresponding week of the previous year.
He explained that the current spike in SPI is driven by perishable items including tomatoes and onions and poultry products like chicken and eggs. During this week, prices of 21 items increased and those of 8 items decreased while prices of 22 items remained stable.
The chair asked about the measures taken by the provincial governments and ICT to curtail the gap between wholesale and retail prices. In response, the representatives of the provincial Food and Industries Departments of Punjab, Sindh and KP explained that strict monitoring of prices has been ensured through heavy fines, raids and sealing of high-charging shops.
The minister advised PBS to present a detailed report on active usage of the Decision Support System on Inflation (DSSI) by provincial/ district authorities for price monitoring and checking profiteering & hoarding.
The minister directed Ministry of NFS&R to engage with the Pakistan Poultry Association to identify and resolve the supply issues of poultry products. He also asked provincial governments and administration of ICT to vigorously pursue smooth availability of essential items especially before Ramadan and report demand and supply situation of specific commodities used in Ramadan in the upcoming meeting.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of Ministries of NFS&R, Commerce, Finance, Industries & Production, and Climate Change, provincial governments, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Utility Stores Corporation, PASSCO and administration of Islamabad Capital Territory.
