CPI inflation up by 9.11pc in May

ISLAMABAD: The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation increased by 9.11 per cent in May 2019 as compared to the same month of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Monday.

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI increased by 0.78pc in May 2019 as compared to April 2019.

In May, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased by 1.43pc while the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 0.78pc respectively.

The average inflation rate during the period July-May also rose by 7.19pc as compared to the same period of last year.

PBS collects the retail prices and computes the CPI for a basket of 487 items collected from 40 cities and 76 markets. For each item, four quotations are collected from each market on a monthly basis.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is compiled on a monthly basis from 21 markets and 21 cities for a basket of 463 items, while Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) is compiled on a weekly basis for 53 items from 53 markets of 17 cities.

On a year-on-year basis, the items that witnessed an increase in prices during May 2019 against the same month of last year included gas (85.31pc), onions (77.52pc), cabbage (74.87pc), watermelon (55.73pc), bus fare (51.16pc), garlic (49.99pc), tomatoes (46.11pc), lemon (43.46pc), bottle gourd (34.83pc), pulse moong (33.65pc), newspaper (33.33pc), mango (28.99pc), CNG (28.23pc) MBA tuition fees (27.73pc), sugar (26.53pc), high-speed diesel (23.86pc), petrol (23.63pc), gold tezabi (20.07pc), ladyfinger (15.09pc), mutton (12.04pc), pulse gram (11.43pc), apple (11.2pc), bananas (10.82pc), electricity (8.48pc), wheat (7.40pc), dates (7.32pc) and house rent (6.15pc).

The items that witnessed a decrease in prices during May 2019 against the same month of last year included betel nuts (35.55), gram whole-yellow (12.76pc), eggs farm (10.52pc) and plum (4.79pc).

During the month of May, the year-on-year increase in the Trimmed Core Inflation was observed at 7.5pc as compared to 5.1pc in May 2018. Meanwhile, an increase in the Non-food & Non-energy Core Inflation was observed at 7.2pc as compared to 7pc in May 2018.