Government focuses on demand-supply planning ahead of festivals

April 11, 2025 (MLN): To ensure effective and pre-emptive interventions during special occasions, the timely forecasting of demand and supply at least three months in advance was underscored by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal.

He chaired a meeting in Islamabad to review current price trends of essential commodities across the country.

The Chief Statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) presented an overview of the current price situation, noting a historic deceleration in inflation.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped significantly to 0.7% in March 2025 from 20.7% in March 2024.

Rural inflation stood at 0%, while urban inflation increased slightly by 1.2%, due to a negative flow in food inflation in both urban and rural areas.

However, core inflation remained relatively high at 8.2% in urban areas and 10.2% in rural regions, according to press release

Highlighting recent price movements, PBS reported increases in the prices of chicken, potatoes, and onions over the past week, while banana prices had spiked earlier in the month.

Minister Ahsan Iqbal noted the volatility in poultry prices and stressed the need to shift towards cold and frozen chicken—an international standard that ensures greater price stability.

He directed the Ministry of National Food Security & Research (MoNFS&R) to develop a price control mechanism for poultry and promote the use of frozen chicken.

He also recommended promoting tomato paste production to curb price fluctuations of fresh tomatoes and called for an analysis of urban-rural price differentials within Islamabad in the next meeting.

Expressing concern over the lack of institutional frameworks for key agricultural products, he criticized the absence of a national board for edible oil and vegetable processing.

The Minister stressed the urgent need for a land optimization strategy to determine local production targets, import needs, and supply channels for key crops such as wheat, sugarcane, and rice.

PBS also highlighted alarming wholesale-retail price gaps exceeding 20% in major cities, with some differentials such as those for onions and potatoes in Karachi and Quetta—surpassing 100%.

The ICT Administration requested PBS to share the list of retailers involved in excessive profiteering for necessary action.

Ahsan Iqbal acknowledged the historic reduction in inflation as a major success of the government but reiterated the need for continued price stabilization efforts.

He directed PBS to include commodity-specific inflation drivers in future analyses and share detailed market-wise data on wholesale-retail price gaps with provincial and district administrations.

PBS will also develop a three-month forecast of demand and supply trends for essential items for Ramadan and Eid and present historical and recent price patterns of kitchen items in the context of Eid-ul-Adha.

MoNFS&R will present a comprehensive plan in the next NPMC meeting for establishing cold chains for chicken, vegetable processing units, and strategies for land optimization and crop mixing.

The Ministry will also propose a plan to promote local production of edible oil to reduce import dependency and stabilize prices.

As per the Federal Cabinet’s directions, all provincial governments are required to enhance their price monitoring systems.

Senior provincial officers must ensure their active participation in upcoming PBS sessions scheduled at provincial headquarters from April 16 to 28, 2025.

The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Planning, including the Secretary, Chief Economist, Chief and Deputy Chief of Macroeconomic Planning & Forecasting (MP&FP).

Key participants also included the Chief Statistician, Member (SS), and Director (Prices) of PBS, along with representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industries & Production, Ministry of Commerce, MoNFS&R, and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration.

Officials from the Ministry of Petroleum, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), provincial and special areas governments, the Competition Commission of Pakistan, Utility Stores Corporation, and PASSCO joined the meeting via Zoom.

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