ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Monday asked the relevant ministries and the provincial governments to take drastic measures to curb inflation, and to undertake concerted efforts in that regard.
The prime minister had promised on Saturday to arrest the rapid increase in the prices of essential commodities as well as to bring them down, and on Sunday had asked the Tiger Force to regularly check the prices in their respective areas, and upload on the Tiger Force Portal, and in this context, National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) meeting was held in the Finance Ministry under the chairmanship of the adviser on finance to review the prices of essential perishable commodities.
However, as promised by the prime minister, the meeting did not come up with specific measures and timeline to bring down the prices of essential commodities, and relevant ministries attributed gap in supply and demand, due to climatic factors as well as upward trend in international prices, and as usual higher profit margin between wholesale and retailers, particularly in metropolitan areas, as primary factors for increase in the prices.
General consensus was that recent rains and the Covid-19 have further aggravated the situation. The NPMC deliberated upon increase in the prices of wheat, sugar and perishable items, namely, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and chicken, and discussed corrective measures to provide relief to the end consumers, and emphasised the role of district market committees to curb price variation effectively.
The chief secretaries were directed to minimize price disparity by streamlining the release of wheat at regular intervals to avoid profiteering. The NPMC also reviewed the timeline for import of wheat and sugar to meet domestic demand for the same.
The adviser finance was briefed that the total public sector procurement for wheat through G2G and TCP was equal to 1.8 metric tons based on the demand estimates provided by the provinces and the PASSCO. It was also stated that sufficient sugar stocks were available in the country till November 2020.
The Adviser Finance also directed the Utility Stores to streamline the availability of essential items in order to provide maximum relief to the lowest strata of the society. The Advisor Finance expressed the hope that effective and well-concerted actions by the provincial governments and the concerned ministries would help in controlling the menace of inflation.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, Adviser for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to the PM on Institutional reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, Secretary NFS&R, Secretary Planning, Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production, chief secretaries from Punjab, Sindh, KP, and Balochistan, Competition Commission of Pakistan chairperson, and representatives from the Utility Stores and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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