Inflation in double digits after 12 months

April saw a double-digit increase in prices of consumer items as inflation edged up to 11.1 per cent from 9.1pc in March, showed data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Inflation entered a double-digit figure after a gap of 12 months though it fell to 5.7pc in January 2021. It is mainly driven by doubledigit growth in food inflation in both urban and rural areas.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation increased by 1pc mainly due to an increase in prices of chicken, cooking oil/ghee, sugar, wheat, and pulses for the end consumers. At the same time, non-food inflation has steadily been on the rise for the past few months due to higher energy prices.

The average CPI (Consumer Price Index) in 10 months between July and April eased from 11.22pc last year to 8.62pc this year.

PBS sees rising food prices behind 11.1pc inflation in April The month of April coupled with start of fasting in the middle of the month noted an accelerated growth in prices of vegetables, fruit, chicken and oil especially in the province of Punjab, followed by Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

At the beginning of the current fiscal year, inflation was recorded at 9.3pc in

July, easing down to 8.2pc in August before rebounding to 9pc in September. From September, inflation went on a downward trajectory, giving some relief to the end consumers.

However, it rebounded in February. A few consumer items as well as energy prices pushed up inflation in March again, with the result that food inflation entered double digits in both urban and rural areas. There are food items prices of which are still on an upward trajectory.

Higher food prices especially with the start of Ramazan pulled up inflation as prices of food group rose 15.7pc year-on-year basis and 2.7pc month-on-month basis in April in urban areas. The situation is almost the same in rural areas where prices of food group have risen to 14.1pc year-on-year basis and 0.9pc month-onmonth basis in April.

The month-on-month increase indicates that prices of essential food items will see a further rise next month, as the weekly prices also show an upward movement that will drag monthly inflation.

The government has imported wheat and sugar to bridge shortfalls and improve supplies in the market. Between July and March, the government imported 3.612 m tonnes of wheat this year against zero import of last year.