Meeting airs concern over rising prices

According to The Express Tribune, Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal chaired a National Price Monitoring Committee meeting on Thursday and voiced alarm over higher prices of essential goods, especially wheat flour. The session reviewed monthly and weekly inflation, gaps between wholesale and retail rates, and progress on earlier decisions. He asked provinces and districts to tighten checks on stock flows, arrivals at markets, stockpiling, profiteering and unwarranted price rises.

Inflation on the CPI measure reached 10.3% year-on-year in September 2026, down from 11.1% in August, while the average for July-September of FY2026-27 stood at 10.2%. Wholesale prices rose 13.3% year-on-year, and the weekly Sensitive Price Indicator logged an 11.53% annual spike for the week ended October 1. On a yearly basis, wheat flour, onions, diesel, petrol, electricity and LPG saw the largest climbs, while week-on-week, chicken, garlic and gram pulse rose notably, along with LPG.

The minister asked for transport fares to be compared with levels seen after the last fuel price increase, and for an explanation of why DAP stayed expensive as global rates fell. A report on ghee, cooking oil and milk products is due within a week, and if industry proposed third-party validation, its cost should fall on industry, not government. Ogra was also directed to narrow the gap between notified and market prices of LPG cylinders.