ISLAMABAD: National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) meeting revealed significant declining trend in inflation over the year, 11.1 per cent in July, 9.6 per cent in August and 6.9 per cent in September 2024 from 38.0 per cent in May 2023.
The federal minister for planning, development and special initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, chaired a meeting of NPMC on 8th October 2024, here in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The Federal Minister for Petroleum, Mussadiq Malik, also graced the occasion and presided over a session of the meeting.
Inflation in Pakistan drops to single digit after three years, clocks in at 9.6% in August
The representatives of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) briefed a detailed presentation on inflation situation in Pakistan. The PBS also highlighted a significant disparity between the prices of various food items and those in the open market.
The minister for planning lauded the efforts of various government entities in bringing down the rate of inflation which has been continuously on a decline during the current fiscal year and stood at 44-months lowest level of 6.9 per cent in September 2024 as compared to 31.4 per cent in September 2023.
A remarkable deceleration in food inflation is observed, showing decrease in urban food inflation to 1.7 per cent from 33.9 per cent over the year, whereas, rural food inflation flowed in negative (-0.9 per cent) as compared to 35.4 percent in the same month last year. The prices of wheat flour and petrol (super) decreased significantly by 37.1 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, over the corresponding month of last year.
The PBS highlighted large gaps in the wholesale and retail prices of some essential commodities in each province and at national level. It was also observed that the decrease in POL prices has not been effectively translated to transport services.
The minister for planning stated that despite the reduction in petroleum product prices, there has been no decrease in transport service rates, which is a matter of concern. In this regard, he directed provincial governments to take immediate steps to reduce transport, wholesale, and retail prices.
Ahsan Iqbal emphasised that the government is taking strong measures to provide maximum relief to the common man, and there will be no compromise in this regard.
He said that in the meeting that a significant decrease in inflation has been observed this month compared to the previous month. He added that the prices of food items have dropped considerably compared to last year, providing relief to the common man.
Iqbal and Malik emphasised that the government is committed to provide maximum relief to the citizens of Pakistan. They urged the provincial governments and the ICT Administration to ensure strict enforcement of price control mechanisms, especially in case of minimising the wholesale-retail price differential and reduction in transport fares.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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