Inflation drops to 8.2% in May: Report

KARACHI: The official data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has shown that consumer inflation has fallen to an 11-month low of 8.2 percent in May 2020.

According to stats, when oil prices tumbled and the coronavirus lockdown suppressed demand for some goods and services, consumer inflation fell to an 11-month low of 8.2 percent last month.

Consumer inflation was recorded at 8.4 percent in May last year. On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.3 percent in May, compared to a decrease of 0.8 percent in the previous month and an increase of 0.6 percent in May last year.

In May, prices of onions declined 23.35 percent month-on-month, followed by vegetables (19.62 percent), eggs (18.74 percent), motor fuel (13.43 percent), tomatoes (7.74 percent), pulse gram (7.25 percent), pulse masoor (4.43 percent), besan (4.38 percent), liquefied hydrocarbons (4.12 percent), and wheat (3.37 percent).

However, prices of chickens increased 41.46 percent, followed by potatoes (31.19 percent), fruits (9.72 percent), milk (4.63 percent), cotton cloth (4.04 percent), condiments and spices (3.71 percent) and butter (2.58 percent), tailoring (2.53 percent), motor vehicle accessories (1.51 percent) and construction input items (0.38 percent).

Consumer inflation was recorded at 8 percent in June last year before moving up to 8.4 percent in the following month, according to PBS. The lower inflation was in contrast to the market expectation of the reading on the higher side due to the seasonal effect.