Inflation in Pakistan reaches highest level in nearly five decades

Pakistan's CPI-based inflation in Feb clocks in at 31.5pc YoY

KARACHI (Web Desk) - Hitting its highest level in nearly 50 years, the country's Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation clocked in at 31.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis in February this year as compared to an increase of 27.6pc January and 12.2pc in February 2022.

Pakistan’s inflation broke all previous records and skyrocketed to 31.5pc in February owing to a steep rise in prices of food, housing, and transportation groups.

The latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday showed that on a month-on-month basis the CPI inflation increased to 4.3pc.

“CPI inflation General, increased to 31.5pc on year-on-year basis in Feb 2023 as compared to an increase of 27.6pc in the previous month and 12.2pc in Feb 2022,” said PBS data.

In a tweet, Topline Securities said the latest reading takes “8MFY23 average inflation to 26.2pc compared to 10.5pc in 8MFY22”.

CPI inflation in urban areas increased to 28.8pc on year-on-year basis in February 2023 as compared to an increase of 24.4pc in the previous month and 11.5pc in Feb 2022.

Topline Alert March 01, 2023 CPI Inflation in Feb 2023 clocked in at 31.5% YoY as compared to 27.6% in Jan 2023. On MoM basis, CPI inflation was up 4.3% as compared to increase of 2.9% last month. This takes 8MFY23 average inflation to 26.2% compared to 10.5% in 8MFY22.

— Topline Securities (@toplinesec) March 1, 2023

On a month-on-month basis, it increased to 4.5pc in February 2023 as compared to an increase of 2.4pc in the previous month and an increase of 0.9pc in February 2022.

Meanwhile, CPI inflation in rural areas increased to 35.6pc on year-on-year basis in February 2023 as compared to an increase of 32.3pc in the previous month and 13.3pc in February 2022.

On a MoM basis, the CPI inflation surged to 4.0pc in February 2023 as compared to an increase of 3.6pc in the previous month and an increase of 1.5pc in February 2022.