A meeting of the NPMC chaired by special secretary finance acknowledged that inflationary pressure is affecting the purchasing power of lower and middle income class; hence, monitoring of prices of food and non-food items at district level and better coordination among the provinces is essential to ensure provision of essential food items at affordable prices. The committee also discussed possibilities to check the anti-competitive practices, undue price hike and price disparity in the country.
The meeting also took note of the profit margin at the level of wholesalers and retailers and accordingly provincial governments were advised to take proactive measures to rationalize the undue profit margins.
Ministry of National Food Security was directed to constitute a committee with representatives from all provinces and relevant stakeholders to review and implement recommendations of CCP with regard to control prices. The CCP was also advised to take proactive measures to check the undue profiteering, eliminate the cartelization practices and control the monopolistic practices so that the small enterprises may be encouraged to enhance their productivity. The meeting also stressed the effective utilization of statistical data for planning and decision making to mitigate the inflationary pressures and remove price disparity among Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and provinces. The ICT administration was also directed to take strict measures to ensure the applicability of price list across federal area and was also advised to ensure the quality of essential items in the market.
The Punjab government was also directed to share their online market complaints app and its redressal mechanism with ICT and provinces.
The meeting was attended by the representatives from the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Islamabad Capital Territory, Ministries of Industries, Law and Justice, Commerce, National Food Security and Research, Planning Development and Reform, Inter Provincial Coordination, Competition Commission of Pakistan , Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Utility Stores Corporation and Federal Board of Revenue.
The meeting was informed that National CPI with new base for the month of August 2019 accelerated to 10.49 percent over August 2018 with urban CPI was recorded at 10.64 percent while rural CPI was recorded at 10.27 percent.
The meeting was also informed that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which monitors the prices of 53 essential items on weekly basis, recorded a decrease of 0.18 percent on the week ended on 29th August 2019. Prices of 16 items increased, prices of 12 items decreased while prices of 25 items remained unchanged.
The NPMC discussed in detail the increase in prices of daily food items and non-food items including wheat, rice, chicken, onion, Mash pulse, gram pulse, Masoor pulse, meat, powdered milk, cooking oil, vegetable ghee, sugar, gas charges, motor fuel, transport services, motor fuel, footwear, construction wage rates, doctor clinic fee etc.
The meeting also reviewed the prices of essential items in Sasta bazaars and open markets and noted that the prices are significantly lower in Sasta bazaars as compared to open markets. However, the need was felt to expand the Sasta/Itwar (Sunday) bazaars across the country. The chair suggested that provincial governments and ICT to expand the network of such Sasta bazaars. The chair also advised to ensure the quality of essential items in such bazaars to benefit the common man.