ISLAMABAD: Karachi and Larkana remained the most expensive cities in the country for the third consecutive week in terms of gap between actual market prices of essential food items and the rates fixed by the district administrations, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

In Sindh, Karachi has retained its top position with a decrease in differential of 1.6 points to 93.21 percent this week from 94.81pc between consumer prices and DC rates, followed by a decrease in differential of 4.4 points from 49.54pc to 45.14pc; and Hyderabad with a decrease of 0.44 points to 27.9pc from 28.34pc.

An increase of 3.81 points was noted in differential of prices in Sukkur from 38.77pc to 42.58pc. It shows that prices remain very high in Sindh.

In Punjab, the price differential remained much lower as Bahawalpur maintained its position at the lowest of 9.42pc with a slight increase from the previous week.

The gap in prices is based on the Decision Support System for Inflation (DSSI), which shows the district administrations failed to enforce the rates.

The PBS has developed the DSSI to provide information about prices of essential commodities to the National Price Monitory Committee (NPMC), federal ministries, provincial governments and district administrations.

Last week, the ranking of districts showed an almost similar trend with Karachi on the higher side. This showed that the district administration in the city has yet to enforce DC rates. After devolution of powers, price control falls within the jurisdiction of provinces.

The NPMC was scheduled to meet on Monday to monitor the prices of essential food items across the country, but its meeting was postponed for unknown reasons.

After Bahawalpur, the lowest gap was recorded in Lahore with an increase of 0.26 points to 10.61pc, followed by 0.43 points in Sialkot to 10.96pc, 0.68 points to 12.61pc in Rawalpindi, 0.5 points to 13.48pc in Sargodha, 0.75 points to 16.91pc in Faisalabad and 1.01 points to 18.1pc in Islamabad.

However, a decline of 1.33 points was recorded in gaps of prices in Multan, which was recorded at 20.32pc.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the gap was declined by 0.34 points to 18.75pc in Peshawar and by 0.18 points to 24.96pc in Bannu.

In Balochistan, the gap was reported at 30.59pc in Quetta and at 39.76pc in Khuzdar. In Quetta, a slight decline of 0.22 points was reported, while in Khuzdar an increase of 1.23 points was noted in price gaps.

The DSSI provides a ranking mechanism of districts through which the management at the provincial and federal levels can monitor the price variation on a weekly and monthly basis in 17 major cities of the country.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2021