ISLAMABAD - The gap between wholesale and retail prices of basic food items in Pakistan has widened further, reaching up to 30 percent in October compared to the previous month.
Once again, the federal government has proven to be the worst performer in maintaining retail prices of basic food items, compared to the four provincial governments, as the gap between wholesale and retail prices has reached 46 percent in its administrative jurisdiction.
Despite considerable reduction in inflation in the country, the federal and provincial governments have failed to provide relief to the consumer, as the retail prices at national level were 21 to 30 percent higher than the wholesale market, official source told The Nation.
The district administrations in the entire country have failed to check the price hike of basic food items, where the retail prices such as vegetables, dairy, lentils, rice and poultry were up to 46 percent higher than the wholesale market, during the month of October.
Although the retail prices are higher in the entire country from the wholesale market, however, the federal government is the worst performer where the gap is from 21 to 46 percent, the source said. The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the best performer among federal government and the federating units, where the gap between the retail and wholesale market is from 20 to 23.3 percent in the prices of various food items. In Punjab, the gap between the retail and wholesale market was 22.5 percent to 26.10 percent during October 2024. In Sindh, the gap between the retail and wholesale market is 22 to 33 percent, whereas in Balochistan it was from 21.70 to 26 percent higher than the wholesale market. Notably, the inflation rate in the country is on continuously decline during the current fiscal year and remained 7.2 percent in October, up 44-months lowest level of 6.9 percent in September 2024. However, despite sharp decline in inflation large gaps in the wholesale and retail prices of some essential commodities in the federal government, each province as well as at national level existed.
Last week, the meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee was informed that in October 2024, non-perishable food items experienced a controlled rise of 1.01 percent compared to previous month and a decrease of 1.46 percent compared to October 2023. Major decrease observed in the prices of wheat flour (-34.73 percent), sugar (-9.15 percent) and cooking oil (-10.2 percent). Overall, the food inflation reflecting high stability in the prices declined from 28.9 percent in October 2023 to 2.7 percent in October 2024 in Urban area and declined from 28.6 percent in October 2023 to 0.6 percent in October 2024 in Rural area. Additionally, the Transport sector and fuels category saw a declining trend (-6.13 percent) due to mainly decline in petrol and diesel (-18.5 percent) if compared to October last year.