Year-on-year headline inflation rises to 24.5%

Prices of majority consumer goods remained out of people's reach despite 2.8% slowdown in index movement

ISLAMABAD:

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the inflation monitor, rose 24.5% in December, year-on-year, the statistics bureau said on Monday.

Prices were up 0.5% in December from the previous month, the bureau said in a press release.

The CPI had risen by 23.8% in November compared to the same period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Thursday. Despite around 2.8% slowdown in the index movement, the prices of the majority of the consumer goods remain out of reach of the people.

Read Miftah foresees default if Pakistan shuns IMF

The inflation rate had been in line with the Ministry of Finance’s expectations, which ranged from 23% to 25%.

The reason behind moderation in the inflation rate was a drop in the rate of increase in the perishable food items. Their prices group surged by 41% in November, which was quite a high rate but still lower than the preceding month.

The coalition government has stopped tracking the prices of the consumer goods, as it rarely convenes the meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee.