ISLAMABAD: The National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) on Wednesday reviewed prices of essential commodities and directed relevant stakeholders to maintain prices of food items.

The meeting observed prices of essential commodities tomatoes, potatoes, chicken farm, onions, eggs, gur, sugar, wheat flour bags have registered significant decline during the week. It was also informed that prices of onions and tomatoes during week under review witnessed same prices as these were three years before.

The NPMC meeting was chaired by Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin and attended by Food Security Minister Fakhar Imam, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, and federal secretaries.

Finance Secretary Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh said prices of 15 essential commodities registered decline while 17 commodities showed slight upward trend last week whereas 19 items remained steady.

Mr Sheikh further updated the meeting that the wheat flour prices remained steady at Rs1,100 per 20kg bag due to the proactive measures of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments and ICT administration. The meeting expressed satisfaction over the availability of sufficient stocks of wheat.

The secretary finance informed the NPMC that sugar prices had declined and will ease further with the arrival new stocks.

Adviser Shaukat Tarin expressed satisfaction over the stability in the sugar prices in the market and directed the Ministry of Industries and Production to build strategic reserves of sugar to avoid price hike in future.

The NPMC was also briefed on the prices of pulse which have shown slight increase in the week under review. The meeting also reviewed the prices of edible oil in the country and directed the FBR to monitor the movement of imported edible outside of FATA/PATA to the settled areas.

The NPMC observed that Sastaa & Sahulat Bazaars in Punjab and KP are offering essential goods at subsidised prices.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2021