ISLAMABAD: The National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) on Tuesday reviewed prices and highlighted a significant disparity between the wholesale and retail prices of various food items in the open market.

The NPMC meeting chaired by Planning Mini­ster Ahsan Iqbal reviewed the falling monthly inflation to 6.9 per cent in Sep­tember. Federal Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik also attended the meeting.

An official said that the representatives of Pak­istan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) briefed a detailed presentation on inflation situation in Pakistan. PBS also highlighted a significant disparity between the prices of various food items and those in the open market.

The planning minister said that a remarkable de­­celeration in food inflation is observed, showing decrease in urban food inflation to 1.7pc from 33.9pc over the year, whe­reas rural food inflation flowed in negative (-0.9pc) as compared to 35.4pc in the same month last year. The prices of wheat flour and petrol decreased significantly by 37.1pc and 20pc over the corresponding month of last year.

The PBS highlighted large gaps in the wholesale and retail prices of some essential commodities in each province and at national level. It was also observed that the decrease in POL [petrol, oil and lubricants] prices has not been effectively translated to transport services.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024