ISLAMABAD: The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation increased to 38 percent on a year-on-year basis in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 36.4 percent in the previous month and 13.8 percent in May 2022, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.
On a month-on-month basis, it increased to 1.6 percent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 2.4 percent in the previous month and an increase of 0.4 percent in May 2022.
Average CPI inflation for July-May 2022-23 stood at 29.16 percent compared to versus 11.29 percent during the same period of last year.
Pakistan’s headline inflation hits new record at 38% in May 2023
The CPI inflation Urban, increased to 35.1percent on a year-on-year basis in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 33.5 per cent in the previous month and 12.4 per cent in May 2022. On a month-on-month basis, it increased to 1.5 per cent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 2.0 per cent in the previous month and an increase of 0.3 per cent in May 2022.
CPI inflation Rural increased to 42.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 40.7 per cent in the previous month and 15.9 per cent in May 2022. On a month-on-month basis, it increased to 1.7 per cent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 3.0 per cent in the previous month and an increase of 0.6 per cent in May 2022.
The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) inflation on YoY increased to 43.0 per cent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 42.1 per cent a month earlier and 14.1 per cent in May 2022. On MoM basis, it increased by 1.3 per cent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 2.7 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 0.6 per cent in May 2022.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation on YoY basis increased to 32.8 per cent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 33.4 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 29.6 per cent in May 2022. On MoM basis, it increased by 1.0 per cent in May 2023 as compared to an increase of 0.1 per cent a month earlier and an increase of 1.4 per cent in the corresponding month of last year i.e. May 2022.
AFP adds: “This level of inflation badly affects poor and middle-class families of the country, whose income is evaporating with each percentage point,” said Mohammad Sohail, a financier in Karachi.
Years of financial mismanagement have pushed Pakistan’s economy to the limit, exacerbated by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that submerged a third of the country in 2022.
A political crisis has added another layer of uncertainty — with opposition leader Imran Khan’s brief arrest last month sparking deadly street violence and a days-long state-ordered mobile internet blackout.
In the background, negotiations to unlock a crucial tranche of a $6.5 billion loan deal agreed with the International Monetary Fund have been deadlocked for months.
Pakistan needs billions of dollars in financing to service staggering levels of external debt, and foreign exchange reserves have dwindled to just $4.2 billion, barely enough for a month of imports.
Elections are due no later than October, and the government has already bowed to IMF demands to end popular subsidies on gas and electricity which cushioned the cost-of-living crisis.
“Everyone is worried,” said 42-year-old Muhammad Safeer in an Islamabad bazaar. “Where will we get the money from? Personal debt can only go up.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government is due to present its annual budget next week, and the nation has already downgraded its growth forecast for the year ending June 30 from five percent to 0.3 percent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023