Pakistan’s inflation rate soars to 9.3 percent in July

ISLAMABAD: Inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose sharply to 9.3 percent in July from 8.6 percent June due to a surge in food and petroleum product prices, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The inflation rose 2.5% in July 2020 on Month on Month (MoM) basis, as compared to an increase of 0.8% in the previous month and an increase of 1.8% in July 2019.

According to PBS, tomato prices increased almost twofold on a month-on-month basis and 100 percent on a year-on-year basis. Petrol prices increased by 27 percent last month.

Food inflation also posted an increase in July 2020. In urban areas, it rose by 15.1 percent in July on a YoY basis and 3 percent on an MoM basis. Similarly, food inflation in rural areas rose by 17.8 percent in July 2020 on a YoY basis and 4 percent on an MoM basis.

The PBS data informed that the wheat prices rose by 28.5 percent in July 2020. Similarly, the flour price rose by 18.5 percent as compared to June 2020. An increase of 17 percent was also noted in the retail price of sugar.

Non-food inflation in urban areas was recorded at 3.9 percent on a YoY basis, while it edged up by 1.7 percent on an MoM basis. On the rural side, the non-food inflation rose by 6.3 percent and 2 percent, respectively.