Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has directed the provincial authorities to bring stability in the prices of wheat flour by increasing daily release of wheat to the flour mills.
The Finance minister on Wednesday chaired the meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC), held at the Finance Division.
Finance Division Economic Adviser briefed the NPMC about weekly SPI which witnessed an increase of 0.22 per cent as compared to decline in previous week by 0.08 per cent.
33 food items contributed an increase in the SPI by 0.31 per cent, whereas 18 non-food items contributed a decrease of 0.09 per cent to the SPI.
NPMC was informed that prices of 12 items remained stable in the last week. The prices of 11 items decreased, contributing to a 1.08 per cent decline in SPI by 1.08 per cent.
The items which contributed to the decline included electricity by 0.91 per cent, eggs by 0.08 per cent, red chillies by 0.03 per cent and others by 0.06 per cent. While prices of 28 items slightly increased, that led to an increase in SPI by 1.3 per cent which included petrol by 0.65 per cent, chicken by 0.19 per cent, long cloth by 0.18 per cent and others by 0.28 per cent.
NPMC was informed that chillies powder, eggs, electricity charges, onions, potatoes, gur, sugar, wheat flour, LPG cylinder, pulse moog, pulse mash have shown decline in the prices during the last week. It was informed that prices of onion are lowest as compared to its price three years earlier.
The NPMC was updated on the wheat flour prices in the country. The Secretary Ministry of NFS&R informed on the stock position of wheat and further apprised on the future requirements and the strategy for sustainable availability of wheat in the country.
The Chair expressed concerns on the low daily release of wheat by the Balochistan government and directed the provincial authorities to bring stability in the prices of wheat flour by increasing daily release of wheat to the flour mills.
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