Govt committed to removing supply hurdles

The government is taking all possible measures to ensure smooth supply of essential commodities across the country, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin.

In a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) on Wednesday, the adviser directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to monitor the movement in global prices of pulses and accordingly plan imports to avoid price hike in the country.

He stressed the need for ensuring availability of wheat flour in Karachi and Hyderabad at prices set by the government, according to a statement.

The adviser directed the provincial chief secretaries to keep a check on undue hike in prices of milk. On the occasion, the finance secretary informed the meeting that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) dropped by 0.07% during the previous week.

Reviewing the price trend, the secretary told the meeting that prices of nine essential commodities registered a decline, whereas rates of 23 items remained stable during the week. Meanwhile, prices of 19 essential commodities increased slightly.

He pointed out that prices of commodities like tomato, potato, farm chicken, sugar and wheat flour registered a significant decline during the week. “Wheat flour price remained constant at Rs1,100 per 20kg bag due to proactive measures of the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments and ICT (Islamabad Capital Territory) administration,” he said.

“The daily release of wheat by all provincial governments will further ease wheat prices at the national level.”

Highlighting the decrease in sugar prices, the secretary told the meeting participants that new stocks of sugar were arriving in the market, which would further push prices down. Regarding pulses, the NPMC was informed that the commodity’s prices increased slightly during the week.

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The meeting also reviewed milk prices and observed variations in rates across the country.

Reviewing the consumption pattern of branded/ unbranded edible oil, the meeting noted the price difference between the two and directed the authorities to remove anomalies to ensure supply of edible oil at reasonable prices.

Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production, secretary Ministry of National Food Security and Research, additional secretary commerce, provincial chief secretaries, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics chief statistician, Trading Corporation of Pakistan chairman and other senior officers participated in the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2021.

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