According to figures provided by the nation’s government statistics agency on Monday, headline inflation picked up speed at the start of the new fiscal year, coming in at 12.6% year-over-year (YoY) in June compared to 11.8% in May. This raise is in line with what the government and market anticipate.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI)-based inflation grew by 0.5% month over month in June, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
May’s CPI-based inflation was 11.8% higher than a year ago, which was lower than the finance ministry’s forecasts and the lowest level in 30 months.
Since May 2022, the nation has been plagued with inflation above 20%.
In May of last year, while the government worked through reforms as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package, inflation spiked as high as 38%. But since then, inflation has decreased.
The brokerage firm Topline Securities stated that they were not surprised by the result because it was in line with their forecasts.
With this CPI reading, the average inflation for the 2023–24 fiscal year is 23.4%, down from 29.2% for the 2022–2023 fiscal year.
In its Monthly Economic Update and Outlook report, the Ministry of Finance predicted that June 2024’s inflation rate would be somewhat higher than it was in May of last year, but it would still be lower than it was at the same time the previous year.
