Inflation decreased to 3.2 percent in March 2018 from 3.8 percent in the previous month following a marginal decline in the prices of perishable food items and food & non-alcoholic beverages, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The PBS measures Consumer Price Index after collecting data of 487 consumer items from 40 urban cities on a monthly basis. The officials who released the inflation statistics at a media briefing stated that monthly inflation eased for the third consecutive month; however, they did not reject fear that latest depreciation of rupee against dollar may fuel inflation in the country.
The PBS collects prices of commodities from urban centers across the country and the data does include prices of those commodities in the rural areas. Average inflation for July-March 2018 was decreased to 3.78 percent from 4.01 percent for the same period of the last fiscal year. The data showed that major contributors for decrease in inflation were food and non-alcoholics group, and prices of non-alcoholics with 34.83 percent weight in the group decreased by 0.37 percent and prices of perishable food items went down by 3.80 percent.
Food and non-alcoholics group Indices eased to 228.39 in March 2018 from 229.23 percent in the previous month while perishable items indices decreased from 221.02 in February 2018 to 212.61 in March. Food items whose prices decreased included: tomatoes, 20 percent, onion, 19 percent, green chillies, 16 percent, potatoes, 8.53 percent, eggs, 7.26 percent, gram whole, 2.91 percent, spinach, 2.27 percent, pulse gram, 2.11 percent, pulse masoor, 1.81 percent, pulse mash, 1.8 percent and price of sugar down by 1.03 percent.
Food items whose prices increased included: betel leaves & nuts, 22 percent, fresh fruits, 7 percent, chicken, 4 percent, tea, 3 percent, fish, 1.07 percent, meat, 0.92 percent, cooking oil, 0.48 percent, dry fruits, 0.45 percent, rice, 0.44 percent, condiments, 0.35 percent, milk powder, 0.28 percent, and milk products, 0.21 percent.
Cost of clothing & footwear increased by 0.31 percent in March over previous month of February, housing water, electricity, gas & other fuels (with 29.41 percent weight in the group), 0.04 percent, furnishing & household equipment maintenance, 0.50 percent, health, 0.31 percent, and cost of transport soared by 1.36 percent as impact of increase in petroleum prices was passed on to the consumers.
Core inflation measured by non-food non-energy CPI increased by 5.8 percent in March 2018. Wholesale price inflation was noted at 3.6 percent in March 2018 as compared to 4.1 percent a month before and 6.4 percent in March 2017.