A recent Competition Commission press release announced that a meeting had been convened under the direction of the minister for finance to finalise recommendations on the price control mechanism for essential food commodities. The meeting was attended by senior officials from:
- the Ministries of Commerce, Planning and Development and Inter-provincial Coordination;
- the Federal Board of Revenue;
- the Bureau of Statistics;
- the Utilities Stores Corporation;
- the Food and Industries Departments of Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh; and
- the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration.
The commission's cartels, trade abuse and legal divisions emphasised the need to strengthen the existing price control mechanisms to ensure the supply of essential food commodities at competitive prices. The views of relevant federal and provincial government departments were also taken into account.
It was proposed that a uniform pricing formula at wholesale level be devised and implemented by all provinces. The establishment of agricultural supermarkets for farmers on a public-private partnership model was also proposed, as was the establishment of a monitoring commission to decide on timely import and export permissions for food commodities.
The meeting recommended fixing a support price for declining crops and maintaining buffer stock as security to counter supply shortages.
The commission will now finalise its recommendations based on the suggestions received from stakeholders and present them at the next meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee.
For further information on this topic please contact Samiya Fikree or Ferzeen Bhadha at Vellani & Vellani by telephone (+92 21 3580 1000) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]).
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