Mechanism to reduce price disparity among provinces soon

ISLAMABAD: National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) on Thursday agreed to reduce price disparity among the provinces through an integrated market mechanism, and review the laws to ensure it focused on cartelisation, hoarding, and profiteering.

A statement said the committee, which met under the chair of Finance Minister Asad Umar, took stock of supply and prices of food and pharmaceutical items.

The meeting, attended by relevant federal ministries and provincial departments, reviewed prices of perishable and non-perishable food items, particularly 28 essential kitchen items.

Officials told the meeting that volatility in the prices of perishable items, specifically tomatoes, onions, grams, and pulses, was primarily due to seasonal variations, which had now subsided.

They informed the NPMC that Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) was showing a declining trend for last two consecutive weeks in March 2019, which suggested the prices of kitchen items in the market were easing.

The meeting decided to put a strong forecasting mechanism in place to ensure availability of essential food items for the coming 3–6 months in consultation with the provincial governments.

It was also resolved that a monthly meeting of NPMC would be held regularly to review supply and prices of all commodities and introduce timely measures to avoid any shortage in the country.

Expressing concerns over black-marketing, the finance minister directed the concerned officials to make market committees more proactive so that they could play a vigilant role in effectively monitoring prices and check any hoarding across the country. The meeting also reviewed the availability of commodities with particular reference to the holy month of Ramazan and was assured by the Utility Store Corporation officials that government’s Ramzan Package would be implemented to ensure sufficient availability of commodities at affordable prices.

The meeting stressed for efforts to increase the number of Susta bazaars, Itwar bazaars, and fair price shops throughout the country to ensure sufficient availability of commodities for common man at affordable prices.

The Prime Minister will chair a meeting to further review the supply and prices of food and pharmaceuticals in the country on Monday, April 8, 2019.

The concerned ministries will submit short and medium-term policy recommendations as well as structural measures needed to ensure smooth supply and stability in the prices to the Prime Minister.