KARACHI: Pakistan’s annual inflation rate in June spiked to 5.21 per cent from 4.19 per cent in May – the biggest increase in nearly four years, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Wednesday.
The major reasons for the rising inflation were the depreciation of the Pak rupee, rising oil prices and discount rates. In the last fiscal year, Pak-Rupee depreciated by 14 per cent while the Central bank increased 75 basis points in the discount rates to 6.5 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis (MoM), the inflation rate was 0.57 per cent in June, the bureau said.
“Food items such as tomatoes, bananas, potatoes, and onions, as well as bus fares and children’s shoes, were the main reason behind the increase in MoM prices,” an analyst claimed. The impact of the current increase in the petroleum prices will also support the CPI upward trend”, he added.
According to data from the statistics bureau, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation spiked by 5.21 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 4.2 per cent in the previous month and 3.9 per cent in June 2017.
On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.6 per cent in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 0.5 per cent in the previous month and decrease of 0.4 per cent in June 2017.
Core inflation measured by non-food non-energy CPI (Core NFNE) increased by 7.1 per cent on (YoY) basis in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 7.0 per cent in the previous month and 5.5 per cent in June 2017. On a MoM basis, it increased by 0.3 per cent in June 2018 as compared to increase of 0.2 per cent in the previous month, and an increase of 0.1 per cent in the corresponding month of last year i.e. June 2017.
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) inflation on YoY increased by 1.9 per cent in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 0.5 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 1.4 per cent in June 2017. On a MoM basis, it increased by 1.8 per cent in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 0.1 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 0.1 per cent in June 2017.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation on YoY basis increased by 7.6 per cent in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 5.6 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 3.3 per cent in June 2017. WPI inflation on MoM basis increased by 1.5 per cent in June 2018 as compared to an increase of 1.3 per cent a month earlier and a decrease of 0.5 per cent in the corresponding month of last year i.e. June 2017.
