Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Prof Ahsan Iqbal has said that the efforts of various government entities in bringing down the rate of inflation are commendable. A continuous decline in inflation was witnessed during the current fiscal year and stood at 44-months lowest level of 6.9% in September 2024 as compared to 31.4% in September 2023, said a press release issued by planning division on Tuesday. Ahsan Iqbal while chairing the meeting of National Price Monitoring Committee said that a remarkable deceleration in food inflation was observed, showing decrease in urban food inflation to 1.7% from 33.9% over the year, whereas rural food inflation flowed in negative (-0.9%) as compared to 35.4% in the same month last year. The prices of wheat flour and petrol (super) decreased significantly by 37.1% and 20% over the corresponding month of last year, he added. Earlier, representatives of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) gave a detailed presentation on inflation situation in Pakistan and also highlighted a significant disparity between the prices of various food items and those in the open market.

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 prices has not been effectively translated to transport services, which the minister said was matter of concern. Ahsan directed the provincial governments to take immediate steps to reduce transport, wholesale, and retail prices and emphasized that the government was taking strong measures to provide maximum relief to the common man. According to press release, Federal Minister for Petroleum Mussadiq Malik also presided over a session of the meeting and emphasized that the government was committed to provide maximum relief to the people. Both the ministers urged the provincial governments and ICT Administration to ensure strict enforcement of price control mechanisms especially in case of minimizing the wholesale-retail price differential and reduction in transport fares.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan