The inflation rate has slowed down to 8.4 percent in July, from 9.7 percent in June, on the back of a slight drop in prices of food products.
According to the data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Monday, inflation came down to 8.4% in the outgoing month which was 9.7% in June. Inflation was at 11.1% in April which has now declined due to the decrease in agriculture products.
However, food inflation is still high. In urban areas, it raised by 9.4% in July on a yearly basis and 1.5% on a monthly basis while on yearly basis and on monthly basis, the price level growth in rural areas has been at 7.3% and 1.6%.
Average inflation rate measured by the sensitive price index came down to 16.2% during the outgoing month from 17.6% in June whereas the wholesale price index was 17.3% in July which was 20.9% in the earlier month.
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A meeting of the price monitoring committee was held on Monday to review the prices of wheat, sugar, pulses, chicken, and other food items. The meeting was presided over by the Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin.
The committee was briefed regarding the procurement prices of the wheat.
The Secretary, Ministry of Food Security, Ghufran Memon told that the order for the purchase of 220,000 tons of wheat had been placed.
The committee directed the concerned ministry to take urgent measures for the import of two million tons of wheat so as to ensure the proper stocks of the same in the country.
When the committee was briefed that the strategic level of stocks would ensure the timely availability of necessary items to bridge the gap between supply and demand, the Finance minister directed the secretary of the ministry of food security to present the plan in this regard in the committee for discussion and approval.
