Dar orders crackdown on hoarding and overpricing of essential items
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has ordered authorities to take strict action against hoarding and overpricing of essential commodities, as a government committee reviewed stocks, supply arrangements and prices in Islamabad on Friday. Dar chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Essential Commodities and was told that adequate stocks were available to meet domestic demand.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the committee reviewed the stock position, supply arrangements and prices of essential commodities. Officials informed Dar that “no shortages” were anticipated and that prices were stabilising. The deputy prime minister directed all concerned authorities to monitor supply chains and commodity prices to protect domestic consumers, in line with the prime minister’s directives.
The meeting was attended by the ministers for National Food Security and Research and Climate Change, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa, the commerce secretary and senior representatives of relevant federal and provincial ministries and departments.
Flour prices drive the hoarding and overpricing concern
The directive comes against a difficult backdrop for household budgets. Pakistan’s year-on-year consumer price inflation slowed to 10.3 per cent in September from 11.1 per cent in August, but rising electricity and fuel costs continued to squeeze families. The IMF has raised its inflation forecast for Pakistan to 9.9 per cent for the current fiscal year, up from 8.4 per cent, while keeping its growth forecast at 3.5 per cent.
Food prices tell a harsher story. The Sensitive Price Indicator rose 11.97 per cent year-on-year in the week ending October 8, with a 20kg bag of wheat flour up 5.69 per cent in a single week to Rs2,851, compared with Rs2,150 a year earlier. Onion prices more than doubled over the same period, while petrol prices rose 47.52 per cent year-on-year.
Wheat markets have faced particular strain despite a substantial harvest. In July, Punjab sought one million tonnes of wheat from federal reserves after procuring only 480,000 tonnes against a three-million-tonne target, and officials said about four million tonnes of wheat believed to have been hoarded could not be traced. The wheat price spike has already drawn criticism from trade and industry, and the prime minister met food security officials earlier over fair wheat prices.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been hit hard by restrictions on wheat and flour supplies from Punjab. The province needs about 5.2 million tonnes of wheat a year but grows only 1.2 million tonnes locally. In Peshawar, a 20kg bag of coarse flour reached Rs3,300 in early October, and tandoors raised the price of a 50-gramme roti to Rs30. The provincial Food Department said it distributed more than 417,000 flour bags at official rates in a week and was releasing 3,000 metric tonnes of government wheat to mills daily.
What happens next
Dar’s order puts the focus on enforcement: district administrations and price-control magistrates will now be expected to act against hoarders and profiteers rather than simply monitoring markets. With the IMF projecting inflation near 10 per cent, the coming weeks will show whether the crackdown brings relief to shoppers or remains another directive on paper.
What did Ishaq Dar order?
He directed authorities to take strict action against hoarding, artificial shortages and overpricing of essential commodities, and to monitor supply chains and prices for domestic consumers.
Are there shortages of essential commodities?
The committee was told adequate stocks were available to meet domestic demand, with no shortages anticipated and prices stabilising.
Why are flour prices so high?
A mix of hoarding, weak official procurement and restrictions on interprovincial wheat movement has disrupted supply. Punjab could not trace about four million tonnes of wheat believed to have been hoarded, and K-P depends heavily on supplies from other provinces.
*Source: The Express Tribune*
