Caretaker Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Muhammad Sami Saeed on Tuesday sought a detailed report from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on the active usage of the Decision Support System on Inflation (DSSI) for price monitoring of edibles, checking profiteering and hoarding.
He passed these directives while chairing a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) to review the prices of essential commodities, a news release said.
One of the salient features of DSSI, which provides market-level information, city-wise comparison of prices, and time series data at the commodity level, is the comparison of rates issued by Deputy Commissioners and those collected by the PBS every week.
The minister also directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to engage with the Pakistan Poultry Association to identify and resolve the supply issues of poultry products.
Besides, he asked provincial governments and the administration of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to vigorously pursue smooth availability of essential items, especially in the preview of the upcoming holy month of Ramazan, seeking report demand and supply situation of specific commodities used in the fasting month.
Among others, the meeting was attended by the representatives of the Ministries of Food Security and Research; Commerce; Finance; Industries and Production, and Climate Change, besides provincial governments, PBS, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Utility Stores Corporation, Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation Limited (PASSCO) and ICT administration.
During the meeting, the PBS Chief Statistician presented an overview of the price situation in the country for the week ended on January 11, 2024, and apprised the meeting that the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 1.4 per cent over the previous week (WoW) and increased to 44.2 per cent over corresponding week the previous year.—APP
