Pakistan headline. Inflation The price of petroleum products reached a record high in January amid disruptions in the supply of food products and a significant increase in prices of petroleum products.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday. This is the highest year-on-year inflation since May 1975 when the average rate peaked at 27.77 percent.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation rose 2.9 percent as nearly 6,000 containers are stuck in ports, including thousands of tons of poultry feed ingredients that pushed chicken prices to a record earlier this year. gave
Inflation – which has been more than 20 percent since June after the coalition government cut imports – has been rising due to the closure of containers.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI), which captures prices in the wholesale market, also rose by 28.53 percent in January as against 24 percent in the same month a year ago.
Both urban and rural areas recorded an increase in the overall inflation rate, PBS reported. The inflation rate in urban areas increased by 24.4 percent in January and in rural areas by 32.3 percent compared to the same month last year. In January last year, the rate of inflation in urban areas was 13 percent while in rural areas it was 12.9 percent.
Food inflation in rural and urban areas reached 45.2% and 39% on annual basis respectively. In January 2021, food inflation for rural and urban areas stood at 11.8% and 13.3%, respectively.
Non-food inflation was recorded at 15.6 percent in urban areas and 20.9 percent in rural areas as against 12.8 percent and 13.9 percent in the same month last year.
According to a report by the National Statistics Agency, core inflation – calculated excluding food and energy items – rose by 15.4 percent in urban areas and 19.4 percent in rural areas during the month under review.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details.