ISLAMABAD: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) has remained on an upward trajectory for the sixth consecutive month and inflation rate remained in double-digits.
According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan for the outgoing fiscal year, CPI in April 2022 stood at 13.4 percent on a year-on-year basis which was up from 12.7 percent in the previous month and 11.1 percent in April 2021.
The inflation target was set at 8.0 percent, but an abnormal increase in global commodity prices especially crude oil and the edible oil has soared the domestic prices since Pakistan is net importer of these essential items.
The pace of food inflation surged 15.6 percent in urban and 17.7 percent in rural during the month of April 2022 and CPI Inflation, recorded at 11.0 percent on average during July-April 2022 as against 8.6 percent in same period last year.
The incumbent government made best efforts to ensure smooth supply of essential domestic goods through vigilant monitoring of prices both at provincial and federal level.
A Ramazan package of Rs8.2 billion was provided through Utility Store Corporation (USC) for providing essential items to general public at affordable prices. The government has already approved importing three million metric tonnes of wheat to ease supply.
Further, continuous relief to the lower strata of the society from global inflationary pressure, the Economic Coordination Committee granted approval to revise prices of wheat flour and sugar from Rs950 per 20 kg to Rs 800 per 20 kg and Rs 85 per kg to Rs 70 per kg, respectively, and also directed that discount of Rs 190 per kg on vegetable ghee will be continued.
Meanwhile, non-perishable food items were the main contributory factor in jacking up food inflation. The Non-perishable food items recorded at 13.1 percent against the increase of 16.0 percent during the same period last year.
Among non-perishable food items, the upward pressure came from edible oil followed by pulses and chicken. In case of edible oil and ghee products, manufacturers have been struggling with rising international prices of palm and soyabean oil since July 2020. Inflation in perishable food items was increased by 4.1 percent against the slight increase of 0.1 percent during same period last year.
According the economic survey Core inflation, which is defined as Non Food and Non Energy (NFNE) inflation and calculated by excluding the food group and energy items for urban and rural recorded at 7.6 percent and 8.3 percent respectively during the period from July-April 2021-22 as compared to 5.8 percent and 7.6 percent during the same period last year.
The Wholesale prices index (WPI) was moving towards an upward trajectory since the start of fiscal year 2022, whereas last year it followed the same pattern but remained far below current year’s upward trajectory.
The year-on-year WPI for April 2022 was recorded at 28.1 percent against 23.8 percent in the previous month and 16.6 percent in the same month last year. The index on period average basis during July-April FY2022 has been recorded at 22.9 percent as against 7.4 percent during the same period last year.
