Provincial govts told to keep prices in check ahead of Eidul Azha

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Planning, Ahsan Iqbal has directed relevant departments to ensure that sudden price spikes are not reported before Eidul Azha and the essential commodities remain reasonably priced.

The Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal was chairing a meeting on Wednesday to review the current price trends of essential commodities across the country. Iqbal directed relevant departments to ensure five essential commodities, namely sugar, ghee, potato, onion, and tomato, are reasonably priced. Regarding Eid-ul Azha preparations, he directed provincial representatives to inform local authorities to maintain stability in prices during the next month. He also instructed ICT and provincial administrations to ensure there are no sudden price spikes before Eidul Azha.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Economist, the Chief Statistician, and the Director (Prices) of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), alongside representatives from the Ministry of National Food Security & Research (MoNFS&R), and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration. Officials from the provincial governments, the Competition Commission of Pakistan, and the Utility Stores Corporation joined the meeting via Zoom.

While reviewing the implementation status of directions issued in the previous meeting, the minister was briefed that a delegation of PBS officials visited all provincial governments from April 16th to 28th for consultations and briefing on the price monitoring system. During the meetings, detailed presentations were made on the usage of the Decision Support System for Inflation (DSSI) as a data-providing tool for price monitoring. The federal minister was also briefed that PBS is sharing wholesale retail price differences with provincial and ICT administrations weekly. Provincial governments and the ICT Administration will strengthen monitoring mechanisms to prevent hoarding and profiteering and take strict action against violators.

The chief statistician of PBS presented an overview of the current price situation, noting a decrease in Consumer Price Index (General) inflation to 0.3% in April 2025. CPI Inflation (Urban) also decreased to 0.5% in April 2025, while a decrease of -0.1% was recorded in CPI (Rural) in April 2025. The minister directed PBS to share details of commodities having higher profit margins with provincial and ICT administrations.

Furthermore, the weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) trend over the last 10 weeks was reviewed. City-wise mapping of commodities was also presented and discussed during the meeting.

The federal minister directed the Ministry of National Food Security & Research to prepare roadmaps for cold chains of perishable items and encouraged industrial processing of vegetables. He also instructed relevant officers from the ministry to prepare an outcome-based plan to promote the indigenous production of high-import commodities. Additionally, he highlighted the importance of ensuring that farm markets receive fair profit to maintain the sustainability of the food supply and rural economic stability.