By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan and the military leadership have decided to take strict measures against the hoarders, and initiated a crackdown across the country.
During a recent crackdown against hoarders, the relevant institutions conducted raids across the country and recovered 26,762 metric tons of fertilizer, 2,420MT of flour, 53,954MT of ghee, and 9,340 MT of sugar.
According to the report, a total of 38 successful anti-hoarding operations were completed from March 24 to 31, while 168 MT of fertilizer, 0.544 MT of flour, 869 MT of ghee, and 205 MT of sugar were recovered from Punjab.
Earlier this year, the former Caretaker Minister for Planning Muhammad Sami Saeed 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.
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 percent over the previous week (WoW) and increased to 44.2 percent over corresponding week the previous year. He explained that the current spike in SPI was driven by perishable items including tomatoes, onions, and poultry products like chicken and eggs.
During this week, he said prices of 21 items increased and eight items’ decreased while prices of 22 items remained stable.
