Karachi and Larkana remain the most expensive cities in the country for the third consecutive week in terms of the gap between actual market prices of essential food items and the rates fixed by the district administrations, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has said.
According to a local media report that compiled PBS data in this regard, in Sindh, Karachi has retained its top position with a decrease in the differential of 1.6 points to 93.2 per cent this week from 94.8pc between consumer prices and DC rates, followed by a decrease in the differential of 4.4 points from 49.54pc to 45.14pc; and Hyderabad with a decrease of 0.44 points to 27.9pc from 28.34pc.
An increase of 3.81 points was noted in the differential of prices in Sukkur from 38.77pc to 42.58pc. It shows that prices remain very high in Sindh.
On the other hand, the price differential remained much lower in Punjab as Bahawalpur maintained its position at the lowest of 9.42pc with a slight increase from the previous week.
The gap in prices is based on the Decision Support System for Inflation (DSSI), which shows the district administrations failed to enforce the rates.
The DSSI is a PBS developed system to provide information about prices of essential commodities to the National Price Monitory Committee (NPMC), federal ministries, provincial governments and district administrations.
