As inflation grew by 0.17% last week and the increase on an annual basis reached 34.83%, the pattern of rising costs for necessities persisted.
A total of 29 important commodities saw an increase in price during the week ending February 9, 2023, while five saw a decrease and 17 saw no change in price, according to the weekly statistics issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Potatoes, jaggery (Gur), garlic, vegetable ghee, mashed lentil, split chickpeas, masoor lentil, open milk, yogurt, bread, mustard oil, firewood, matches, salt, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and rice were among the 29 commodities that saw price increases.
The five items the prices of which declined during the week included onions, tomatoes, sugar, eggs, and flour.
- The rate of potatoes went up by 7.15%
- Chicken meat by 6.94%
- Basmati tota (broken) rice by 3.80%
- LPG by 3.06
- Vegetable ghee by 2.71%
- Cooking oil by 2.60%
- Maash lentil by 2.42%
- Cigarettes by 2.25%,
- Garlic and moong lentils both by 2.20%.
The prices of the Following decreased;
- Onions by 9.83%
- Tomatoes by 5.40%
- Eggs by 3.40%
- Flour by 2.71%
- Sugar by 0.31%
According to the Sensitive Price Index, the country’s inflation rate for the week was 34.83% higher than it was during the same time last year (SPI).
The results for the week under consideration show that the annual inflation rate for the group with incomes up to Rs17,732 per month was 31.56%.
- The inflation rate for those making between Rs17,733 and Rs22,888 per month was 32.55%.
- The inflation rate for the group earning between Rs 22,889 and Rs 29,517 per month was 34.86%.
- The monthly inflation rate for people making between Rs. 29,518 and Rs. 44,175 was 36.36%.
- For the group with a monthly income of more than Rs44,176, the rate of inflation was 35.83%.
- According to figures made public by the PBS, inflation in crisis-stricken Pakistan has reached a 48-year high.
The greatest annual inflation rate since May 1975 was 27.55% in January 2023. The economy of the nation is in shambles as it struggles to pay off massive amounts of external debt while experiencing a balance of payments crisis.
In order to restart the stalled $6.5 billion rescue package, Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were unable to come to a staff-level agreement on Thursday within the allotted time.
However, both parties came to an agreement on a number of steps that can still assist seal the deal and avert an impending default. The Pakistani government had hoped to persuade the IMF of its good intentions in gradually putting all outstanding criteria into effect.
However, the IMF mission’s 10-day visit, which ended on Thursday without a staff-level agreement, crushed those aspirations.
The government was still unable to give the Nathan Porter-led IMF team sufficient and credible assurances. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held back-to-back meetings but remained short of the end-goal to get a staff-level deal done.
