CPI inflation increases by 2.9pc during July 2017: PBS

KARACHI

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation saw a rise of only 2.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis in July 2017, as compared to an increase of 3.9 per cent in the previous month and 4.1 per cent in July 2016.

On a month-on-month basis, it surged by 0.3 per cent in July 2017 as compared to a decrease of 0.4 per cent in the previous month and an increase of 1.3 per cent in July 2016, the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) said on Tuesday.

“CPI is a little higher or up by 4 basis points from the prediction,” said an analyst of a brokerage house. The prediction was 2.5 per cent in July, he claimed.

The full year 2017-18 CPI inflation would settle around 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent due to normalisation of fuel inflation in the country on the back of rising international oil prices and its pass-through on to consumers, he claimed.

The analyst said that negative impact of taxation measures announced in budget 2018 would affect the rising domestic demand fiscal slippages and others.

The data said that the core inflation measured by non-food non-energy CPI (Core NFNE) surged by 5.6 per cent on (YoY) basis in July 2017 as compared to increase of 5.5 per cent in the previous month and 4.5 per cent in July 2016.

On (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.7  per cent in July 2017 as compared to increase of 0.1 per cent in the previous month, and a surge of 0.6 per cent in the corresponding month of last year July 2016.

Core inflation, measured by 20 per cent weighted trimmed mean CPI (Core Trimmed) increased by 4.0 per cent on (YoY) basis in July 2017 as compared to 4.2 per cent in the previous month and by 3.6 per cent in July 2016.

On a (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.4 per cent in July 2017 as compared to an increase of zero per cent in the previous month and an increase of 0.5 per cent in the corresponding month of last year July 2016.

SPI inflation on YoY decreased by 0.4 per cent in July 2017 as compared to an increase of 1.4 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 1.7 per cent in July 2016. On a MoM basis, it decreased by 0.5 per cent in July 2017 as compared to an increase of 0.1 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 1.3 per cent in July 2016.

WPI inflation on YoY basis increased by 0.7 per cent in July 2017 as compared to an increase of 3.3 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 3.0 per cent in July 2016.

WPI inflation on MoM basis decreased by 0.2 per cent in July 2017 as compared to a decrease of 0.5 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 2.3 per cent in the corresponding month of last year July 2016.

The government representatives predict that Pakistan’s economy has been doing better.

Arshad Hussain
Arshad Hussain
The author is business reporter at Pakistan Today. He can be reached at [email protected]. He tweets @ArshadH47736937

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