ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that the government would come up with various measures to reduce the prices of basic food items in the upcoming federal cabinet meeting scheduled on Tuesday (tomorrow).

“I understand the difficulties ordinary people including salaried class are confronting and have decided, come what may, my government will be announcing various measures that will be taken to reduce prices of basic food items for the common man in Cabinet on Tuesday,” PM Imran said.

He said at the same time all the relevant government agencies had launched an in-depth probe into the flour and sugar price hikes.

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“The nation should rest assured that all those responsible will be held accountable and penalized,” the prime minister remarked.

On Feb 4, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Hafeez Sheikh had said that the inflation rate in the country would lower down gradually. The advisor had said that the federal government had taken a number of steps to decrease prices of several utilities.

“The nation will see that soon the prices start falling down”, he had added.

Hafeez Shaikh had said the government did not borrow money from State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to control inflation, in addition to decreasing budget deficit by reducing unnecessary spending. Proposing the provinces to play their role in controlling inflation, he had said issues of hoarding and profiteering need to be tackled by administrative action.

He had said to a query that the prices of food items that of fresh vegetables increased as a result of seasonal changes and hoped that the prices would fall in the days to come. He had said that decision was also made to import wheat in a bid to control inflation.