By IANS,
Islamabad : The prices of 24 essential commodities have gone up across Pakistan in the first week of Ramzan, affecting the poor and middle-class people the most, a media report said.
A meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee, taking stock of the price trend of essential items, found that inflation rate in these 24 commodities was running at the range of 14.80 percent, the Urdu daily Jang reported Sunday.
The committee, chaired by Finance Secretary Waqar Masood, noted that the price rise was being caused by a combination of global trends in commodity prices and supply and demand-driven factors largely beyond the control of national entities.
The commodities becoming dearer due to the raging inflation include onions, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, kerosene, petrol, sugar, jaggery, chicken, mutton, eggs, rice, basmati rice, and mustard oil.
The meeting also reviewed the arrangements made by the provincial governments and Islamabad administration to control the prices of food items and ensuring smooth supply during Ramzan.
Representatives from all four provinces, officials from the commerce, planning and development, industries ministries, the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), and the Competition Commission were also present at the meeting.