Shatters all records
\n islamabad
\nIn an alarming development, Pakistan\u2019s inflation \u2014 measured by the consumer price index (CPI) \u2014 broke all previous records and skyrocketed to 31.5% in February due to a steep rise in prices of food, housing, and transportation groups.
\nThe fresh inflation reading issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday has also augmented the prospects of a further rise in interest rates in the upcoming monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting \u2014 which the central bank has preponed for March 2.
\nThe inflation rate rushed to 31.5% in February over the year \u2014 the highest since the available data i.e. July 1965. Last time, in April 1975, the inflation had been recorded at slightly over 29%.
\nThe pace of increase in the prices beats the expectations of the finance ministry that had just a day ago given a 28% to 30% inflation range.
\nThe monthly inflation rate jumped 4.3% in February over January \u2014 which according to Sana Tawfiq \u2014 an economist at the Arif Habib Limited \u2014 surged due to an increase in the average prices of food items such as poultry, fruits, pulses, oil, vegetables, ghee, LPG, gas charges, and domestic petroleum products.
\nThe inflation reading suggests that the government will have to review its strategy to unlock the critical $1.1 loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government has not been able to regain any lost ground from the IMF and is giving one after another shock to the people.
\nThe core inflation, calculated after excluding the volatile energy and food prices, also spiralled to 17.1% last month in urban areas and 21.5% in rural areas, signalling price growth is gathering pace across most categories of goods and services.
\nGoing forward, Tawfiq said that inflation is likely to remain elevated on the back of higher food prices (especially due to the Ramadan factor), tariff hikes and a weaker currency.
\nCPI breakdown
\nThe inflation rate \u2014 which has lingered above 20% since June after the coalition government curtailed imports \u2014 has been aggravating due to the logjam of containers, the weaker rupee against the dollar, and the tough strategies implemented by the Ishaq Dar-led Ministry of Finance.
\nThe Wholesale Price Index (WPI), which monitors prices in the wholesale market, also rose sharply to 36.4% in February compared to 23.6% in the same month a year ago.
\nThe PBS reported that the overall inflation rate recorded an increase in both the urban and rural areas. The inflation rate in urban areas surged 28.8% in February and rural areas soared 35.6% over the same month of the last year. In February last year, the inflation rate in urban areas was 11.5% meanwhile, in rural areas it stood at 13.3%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shatters all records islamabad In an alarming development, Pakistan\u2019s inflation \u2014 measured by the consumer price index (CPI) \u2014 broke all previous records and skyrocketed to 31.5% in February due to a steep rise in prices of food, housing, and transportation groups. The fresh inflation reading issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-316828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n