Yearly inflation hits another peak at 46.65%

Record increase attributed to rising food prices

ISLAMABAD:

The yearly short-term inflation rose by 46.65% – highest ever in the country’s history – measured on the basis of the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) during the week that ended on March 22, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday reported.

The highest-ever increase was recorded on account of the rising food prices.

The weekly inflation witnessed a hike of 1.80% during the period under review.

Last week, the yearly short-term inflation stood at 45.64%.

During the week under review, the prices of 26 essential items went up, 12 declined and 13 remained unchanged.

The rates of tomatoes increased by 71.77%, wheat flour by 42.32%, potatoes by 11.47%, bananas by 11.07%, branded tea by 7.34%, sugar by 2.70%, pulse maash by 1.57%, and Gur (jaggery) by 1.03% during the week.

The prices of items the prices of which declined included chicken meat the rate of which fell by 8.14%, powdered chillies by 2.31%, LPG by 1.31%, mustard oil by 1.19%, garlic by 1.19%, cooking oil by 0.21%, pulse moong by 0.17%, pulse masoor by 0.15%, and eggs by 0.03%.

As per the short-term yearly inflation, onions registered the highest increase by their price going up 228.28pc%. They were followed by cigarettes by 165.88%, wheat flour by 120.66%, gas charges for Q1 by 108.38%, and diesel by 102.84%.

Powdered chillies witnessed the biggest decline in the yearly price with 9.56%.

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According to the statistics of the week under review, the inflation rate for the group with income of up to Rs17,732 per month on an annual basis was 43.62%.

Similarly, for the group with income from Rs17,733 to Rs22,888 per month, the inflation rate stood at 46.40%.

The group having income from Rs22,889 to Rs29,517 per month, the inflation came to 46.31%.

For those having an income from Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 per month, the annual inflation rate was 46.66%.

The hardest hit segment of the society were those having a monthly income of more than Rs44,176 as the yearly inflation rate for them was registered at 48.35%.

In the week that ended on March 16, the yearly rate of inflation for this group had reached 47.97%.

Similarly, inflation on a weekly basis had gone up by 0.96% in that week.

Adeel, a citizen, told The Express Tribune that the political instability in the country could lead the country towards defaulting on its external repayments.

He noted that all political stakeholders would have to sit together and chalk out a strategy to avert this situation.

“If the government concedes to all conditions imposed by the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the price of petroleum products would exceed Rs400 per litre. This might not affect the rich but will choke the life out of the common people,” he observed.