ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) was held on Thursday with the federal Secretary Finance in the chair to discuss the prices of essential food and stock of supply of the essential items.
The meeting held at the Finance Division was attended by the representatives from the provincial governments; the Islamabad Capital Territory; the ministries of Industries, Interior, Law and Justice, Planning Development and Special Initiatives, National Food Security and Research; the Federal Board of Revenue, the Competition Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the Utility Stores Corporation.
The meeting discussed the trend of Consumer Price Index (CPI)-a headline measure of inflation- and observed that the prices of food items such as pulses, fresh vegetables and wheat, which had been the main top drivers of inflation, saw a downward trend on monthly basis.
The meeting was informed that the CPI inflation plunged by 1.0pc on MoM in February 2020 over January 2020. However on YoY, it was recorded at 12.4pc in February 2020 over February 2019, while July-February CPI inflation on YoY reached to 11.7pc (6.0pc last year).
According to Secretary Finance, the government is committed to reducing inflation and more steps are underway in the months to come.
It was noticed that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which monitors the price movement of 51 essential items on weekly basis, had recorded a decrease of 1.16pc for the week ended on 27th February this year.
During the week, 13 items recorded decline in their prices, whereas the prices of 25 items remained stable.
It was the third consecutive decline in SPI during the month of February 2020, the meeting was told.
The committee also discussed the price movements of those items among the provinces/ICT and observed variations in price level.
The representatives of the provincial governments informed the participants that they were proactively monitoring the prices as well as supply of essential food items.
The price trend in the international market was on declining note, which would augur well for the domestic prices in near future, the meeting was further told.
The meeting also discussed the outbreak of novel coronavirus and its impact on demand and supply of essential items. The Chair advised that all relevant authorities along with the provincial governments should in close coordination monitor the provision of essential food items at affordable prices keeping in view the forthcoming Ramadan.
He further stressed to check undue profit margin exists between the wholesale and the retail level, which should be prevented.
The chairperson of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) informed the meeting that they were holding a meeting in second week of this month with all stakeholders to discuss food laws and develop a uniform formula for pricing to remove price disparity among districts.
The Chair emphasized the provincial governments to play a proactive role in checking hoarding and undue profiteering to ensure smooth supply of essential food items at reasonable prices.
