Inflation rises over 14%

The Federal Bureau of Statistics says inflation rate for the first 4 months of current fiscal year is 14.17 per cent.

ISLAMABAD: Inflation rate for the first four months of the current fiscal year is 14.17 per cent, says Federal Bureau of Statistics.

According to the bureau, inflation rate for the month of October reached 15.33 per cent while the rate in June was 12.69 per cent.

The average rate of inflation from 2003 to 2010 was 10.15 per cent whereas a historic high of just over 25 per cent was recorded in August 2008.

Pakistan's inflation rates are amongst the highest in the region but the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Shahid Hafeez Kardar, has argued that rates would stabilize once crops are harvested from flood-hit areas.

He said last month that the federal government’s borrowing from SBP to finance soaring expenditures, a delay in the disbursement of spending on the war on terror and a dip in revenues had squeezed the economy’s breathing space.