ISLAMABAD: Finance and Revenue Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has directed the provincial governments to effectively monitor the prices of essential food items, particularly eggs and vegetable ghee.
He stated this while chairing a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) on Monday.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Special Assistant to PM on Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, food secretary, special commerce secretary, industries & production additional secretary, FBR chairman, provincial chief secretaries, PASSCO managing director, Utility Stores Corporation MD, Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) chairperson, Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) chairman, and members of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were also present on the occasion.
The finance secretary apprised the NPMC that there has been a consistent decline in the weekly inflation over the last four weeks. The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based weekly registered a decline of 0.22pc, mainly on the back of a fall in the prices of essential food commodities, namely wheat, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and chicken.
The minister noted the increase in prices of eggs and vegetable ghee and directed the provincial governments to strictly monitor their prices. He directed the commerce secretary to call a meeting with provincial government representatives and FBR to take further steps in this regard.
During the meeting, the food secretary presented before NPMC the current status of wheat and sugar stocks. Improved availability of both commodities has resulted in significant decline in prices for consumers, the meeting noted.
