ISLAMABAD: The country’s inflation increased to 3.16 per cent on YoY in May from 2.11 per cent in April.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the inflation measured through the Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged by 0.8 per cent on a month-on-month basis in May as compared with the previous month.
A nominal increase of 0.02pc was seen in the prices of beverages, clothes and footwear in May over the previous month. Prices of pulses and other food items are expected to go up further ahead of Ramazan. The average annual inflation during the first 11 months (July to May) was 4.65pc, which is still at an 11-year low.
Core inflation – which is measured by excluding volatile food and energy prices – slowed for the eighth consecutive month to 4.9pc from 5.4pc in April. Falling inflation has also encouraged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to cut its key interest rate to a 42-year low of 7pc.
According to the SBP, inflation continued with its downward trajectory in this fiscal year. The decline has been broad based as all the headline and underlying measures of inflation have recorded deceleration.
The food items whose prices increased included tomatoes (17.57pc), pulse gram (14.89pc), besan (13.05pc), fresh vegetables (11.49pc), chicken (10.70pc), fresh fruits (9.16pc), onions (7.34pc), pulse mash (5.97pc), gram whole (5.81pc), gur (3.09pc), pulse masoor (3.03pc), sugar (2.47pc), betel leaves and nuts (1.25pc) and pulse moong (1.08pc).
