The Consumer Price Index (CPI) on year-on-year (YoY) basis has reached 9.41 percent in March 2019 over March 2018, Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) said. According to PBS data, the CPI inflation from July-March 2018-19 has increased by 6.79 percent and on month on month basis CPI registered an increase of 1.42 percent.
During March 2019 over March 2018, on annual basis, the Trimmed Core Inflation was observed at 7.9 percent whereas it was 4.1 percent during March 2018 over March 2017. In March 2019 against March 2018, the annual increase in the non-food & non-energy core inflation has been observed as 8.5 percent, whereas it was 5.8 percent in March 2018 against March 2017.
According to the PBS figures released here on Monday, in March 2019 the CPI inflation increased by 1.42 percent, Wholesales Price Index (WPI) increased by 1.70 percent, while Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 1.57 percent. On year-on-year basis, prices of following commodities witnessed an increase:
tomatoes by 315.30 percent, economy class train fare (1-100km) by 201.47 percent, green chillies by 151.70 percent, gas by 85.31 percent, Betnovate-N Ointment cream by 62.78 percent, peas by 53.98 percent, intercity bus fare by 47.67 percent, cucumber by 44.97 percent, 1st class train fare (1-100km) by 42.18 percent, Calpol syrup by 40.80 percent, Cardamom by 35.31 percent, newspaper by 33.33 percent, BA/BSc English books by 31.39 percent, MBA tuition fee by 27.73 percent, chillies powder loose by 27.65 percent, CNG by 25.36 percent, cars by 24.32 percent, pulse Moong by 22.70 percent, gold by 21.53 percent, sugar refined by 18.20 percent, onion by 15.85 percent, iron bar by 14.54 percent, cement local by 13.96 percent, beef with bone by 13.88 percent, LPG cylinder by 13.48 percent, high speed diesel by 13.13 percent, and mutton by 12.34 percent.
Consumer inflation was at the current level in April 2014 and it was registered at 9.1 percent. The central bank has been regularly highlighting the lagged impact of rupee depreciation on inflation numbers in its periodical reports. Rupee lost more than 37 percent against the dollar since December 2017.
While prices of the following items witnessed a reduction on YoY basis: betel nuts by 47.72 percent, first class train fare (1st Sleeper, 500km) by 21.11 percent, potatoes by 15.58 percent, orange by 15.37 percent, gram whole yellow by 12.54 percent, train fare (1st Sleeper, 101-500km) by 5.41 percent, train fare (A/C Sleeper, 500km) by 1.44 percent, and chicken farm by 1.20 percent
During July-March 2018-19, prices of the following items recorded an increase: gas by 56.87 percent, tomatoes by 47.57 percent, kerosene oil by 25.58 percent, petrol by 22.59 percent, newspapers by 20.61 percent, transport services by 15.55 percent, spices by 13.42 percent, motor vehicle by 12.56 percent, meat by 12.30 percent, construction input items by 11.16 percent, education by 11.04 percent, dry fruits by 10.97 percent, stationery by 10.04 percent, construction wage rates by 9.63 percent, furniture by 9.40 percent, cigarettes by 9.00 percent, tea by 8.90 percent, rice by 7.87 percent, marriage hall charges by 7.66 percent, house rent by 7.50 percent, textbooks by 6.28 percent, chicken by 5.93 percent, vegetable ghee by 4.82 percent, sugar by 4.13 percent, milk fresh by 3.91 percent, and electricity by 2.83 percent.
While during July-March 2018-19, prices of the following items recorded a reduction: onions by 23.20 percent, potatoes by 17.94 percent, pulse Mash by 12.56 percent, gram whole by 6.66 percent, pulse Masoor by 4.01 percent, besan by 2.71 percent, fresh vegetables by 0.50 percent, and fresh fruits by 0.29 percent.
On month-on-month prices, the following commodities witnessed an increased during March over February: green chillies by 141.73 percent, onion by 39.27 percent, peas by 27.54 percent, kinnow by 22.34 percent, economy class train fare (1-100km) by 19.30 percent, tomatoes by 18.82 percent, chicken by 15.89 percent, bananas by 15.59 percent, guava by 14.77 percent, air fare economy by 13.41 percent, pulse Moong by 12.68 percent, Urdu books BA/BSc by 11.49 percent, garlic by 11.18 percent, Calpol syrup by 7.29 percent, and high speed diesel by 4.45 percent.
While prices of the following items recorded a reduction on monthly basis: train fare first class (1-100km) by 9.93 percent, farm eggs by 6.32 percent, potatoes by 5.01 percent, betel nuts by 3.37 percent, georgette by 2.82 percent, LPG cylinder by 1.44 percent, gram whole yellow by 1.01 percent, bricks by 1.00 percent, ginger by 0.58 percent, gram whole black by 0.29 percent, cement local by 0.25 percent, iron bar by 0.24 percent, and CNG by 0.21 percent.
On month on month as well as YoY, inflation increased in March 2019 due to increase in the prices of food group particularly, increase in the prices of vegetables and pulses. However, perishable food items during July-Mar 2018-19 recorded 8.09% decrease as compared to July-Mar, 2017-18.
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