ISLAMABAD, June 2: A high-level meeting chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf on Friday expressed serious concern over rising prices and recommended stern action against hoarders and profiteers.

Informed sources told Dawn that the meeting had decided to curb what it termed as “unbridled profiteering” which had caused severe economic problems for the people. The meeting also decided to strictly monitor prices during the next financial year by maintaining a liaison with the market forces.

“The president told us that the price hike issue is very disturbing for the government and those involved in it must be taken to task,” one of the meeting’s participants said.

According to him, various proposals were discussed to bring down the poverty level. In this regard, he said that it was agreed that motorcycles and rickshaws would be provided to the needy and deserving people in the new budget.

The meeting, he said, also discussed a proposal to finalise a list of important items such as sugar, cement, pulses, wheat/flour and milk which will be strictly monitored by the government.

Also, he said that the meeting considered the initiation of a “new employment scheme” aimed at providing jobs to unemployed people.

According to an official announcement, the president underlined that poverty reduction, realisation of employment opportunities and easing of inflationary pressure form the core of strategy aimed at transmitting benefits of economic growth to grassroots level.

He said creation of economic opportunities is vital for improving the quality of life for common man and laying a strong base for sustainable socio-economic development at grassroots level.

The meeting was convened to review initiatives for speeding up the transfer of economic gains to common man. President Musharraf stressed that a broad range of economic activities including mega projects, foreign investment ventures in prospective sectors, self-employment schemes and micro-finance facilitation should be geared up.