July headline inflation recorded at 9.60 percent

The headline inflation soared to 9.60 percent in the month of July 2012 over the same period of last year on the back of increase in prices of fruits, vegetables and meat as well increase in health and education cost, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Official figures of monthly inflation, CPI, released by the PBS here at a news conference showed that Sensitive Price Index (SPI) and Whole Price Index (WPI) increased by 7.67 percent and 7.22 percent in July 2012 as compared to the corresponding period of last year and core inflation, non-food non-energy, recorded at 11.3 percent in July 2012 compared to 11.4 percent for the previous month and 9.5 percent for July 2011.
Analysts say that 9.6 percent inflation was very high for a country experiencing low growth rate from the last three years. They said that high inflation low growth was hurting the fixed and low income group and may have pushed more people below the poverty line.
According to PBS, the cost of non-alcoholic beverages prices soared by 8.73 percent, alcoholic beverages and tobacco 18.11 percent, clothing and footwear 15.83 percent and health care charges 15.59 percent. The date revealed that transportation cost surged by 12.57 percent during the period under review and recreation and culture charges by 18.57 percent which reflects that less and less people are able to afford it. According to PBS, education cost swelled by 9.93 percent and restaurants and hotel charges went up by 10.31 percent in July 2012 over the same period of last year.
Analysis of month-on-month statistics showed that CPI inflation dropped by 0.2 percent in July 2012 compared to an increase of 0.04 percent for the previous month and 1.3 percent in July 2011. The CPI covering retail prices of over 370 items collected from in 35 cities revealed that month on month basis the prices of onions increased by 20.82 percent in July 2012, tomatoes 16.60 percent, chicken 12.14 percent, potatoes 11.85 percent, fresh vegetables 11.31 percent, fresh fruits 5.15 percent, cooking oil 3.86 percent, eggs 3.04 percent and milk price rose by 2.03 per cent over the previous month. A decrease of 5.05 percent was recorded in the price of tea, 1.45 per cent in price of pulse mash, 1.23 percent prices of pulse masoor, 0.73 percent per kg price of sugar,0.56 percent per kg price of gram in July 2012 as compared to June.