The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was recorded at 8.8 percent in April 2019 on year-on-year basis as compared with 9.4 percent in March 2019 and 3.7 percent in same month of 2018. According to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) here on Thursday, on month-on-month (MoM) basis the CPI registered an increase of 0.13 percent in April 2019 over previous month.
In April, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased by 13.8 percent, and Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 9.3 percent against the same month of the year 2018.
The bureau collects the retail prices and computes the CPI for a basket of 487 items collected from 40 cities and 76 markets. Core inflation measured by non-food non-energy CPI (Core NFNE) increased by seven percent in April 2019 as compared to an increase of 8.5 percent in the previous month and seven percent in April 2018. The core inflation, measured by 20 percent weighted trimmed mean CPI (Core Trimmed) increased by 7.2 percent on YoY basis in April 2019 as compared to 7.9 percent in the previous month and by five percent in April 2018. On MoM basis, it increased by 0.9 percent in April 2019 as compared to an increase of 0.4 percent in the previous month and an increase of 1.6 percent in corresponding month of last year.
Top few commodities whose prices increased in April as compared to the previous month include fresh fruits, 24.21 percent, fresh vegetables, 10.93 percent, chicken, 9.90 percent, sugar, 6.76 percent, potato, 6.08 percent, onion, 4.87 percent, gur, 2.97 percent, pulse Moong, 2.67 percent, cooking oil, 1.83 percent, vegetable ghee, 1.32 percent, meat, 1.15 percent, motor fuel, 4.22 percent, kerosene oil, 2.38 percent, education, 1.80 percent, cotton cloth, 1.71 percent, personal equipment, 1.55 percent, text books, 1.55 percent, house rent, 1.30 percent, and household servant salary, 0.82 percent.
The commodities whose prices decreased in April include tomatoes, 41.42 percent, egg, 19.88 percent, wheat, 1.97 percent, gram whole, 1.20 percent, pulse gram, 0.90 percent, wheat product, 0.80 percent, wheat flour, 0.77 percent, beans, 0.54 percent, dry fruit, 0.53 percent, gram flour, 0.45 percent, pulse Mash washed, 0.37 percent, and transport services, 0.27 percent.
Prices of the following items increased on account of WPI on monthly basis: vegetables, 30.76 percent, fresh fruits, 18.52 percent, other leather NEC, 15.96 percent, poultry, 11.86 percent, potato, 9.53 percent, Jowar, 8.01 percent, radio & television, 7.44 percent, cotton yarn, 7.37 percent, sugar, 6.70 percent, petrol, 6.47 percent, salt & pure sodium chloride, 5.73 percent, pipe fittings, 5.42 percent, spices, 4.70 percent, medicines, 4.67 percent, diesel, 4.65 percent, stimulant & spice crops, 4.58 percent, steel bars & sheets, 4.12 percent, processed liquid milk, 3.74 percent, Mobil oil, 3.72 percent, fridge, washing machines, etc, 3.58 percent, kerosene oil, 3.48 percent, air conditioners, 3.17 percent, ready made garments, 2.97 percent, hosiery products, 2.71 percent, Bajra, 2.62 percent, cottonseeds, 2.59 percent, vegetable oil, 2.58 percent, motor vehicles & maize, 2.56 percent each, synthetic carpets, 2.24 percent, vegetable ghee, 2.12 percent, dairy products NEC, 1.93 percent, and mineral water, 1.88 percent. While during the period under review, eggs prices witnessed a reduction of 23.92 percent at WPI, and wheat by 1.95 percent.
Prices of the following items went up on account of WPI on YoY basis: other leather NEC, 218.26 percent, Jowar, 71.37 percent, vegetables, 50.24 percent, liquefied natural gas, 49.44 percent, furnace oil, 40.87 percent, sugar crops, 35.74 percent, Bajra, 31.72 percent, sugar, 26.90 percent, spices, 24.59 percent, lathe machine, 24.12 percent, cotton yarn, 23.83 percent, tobacco products, 23.69 percent, paints & varnishes, 22.63 percent, diesel, 22.49 percent, stimulant & spice crops, 22.05 percent, motorcycle, 20.42 percent, fertilizers, 18.96 percent, maize, 17.06 percent, kerosene oil, 17.02 percent, rice, 16.98 percent, pipe fittings, 16.59 percent, chemicals, 15.63 percent, auto tyres, 15.39 percent, fresh fruits, 15.20 percent, fibre crops, 15.07 percent, petrol, 15 percent, and dried fruits & nuts, 14.65 percent. While during the period under review, prices of eggs reduced by 13.16 percent, hides & fur skins by 5.88 percent, potatoes by 4.59 percent, fish by 2.43 percent and electrical energy by 1.42 percent.