Pakistan's inflation rate eased to 10.87% y/y in May

By
Reuters
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Man counting the currency notes. Representational Image/File photo
  • Pakistan's annual inflation rate slightly eased to 10.87% year-on-year in May, says the statistics bureau
  • Last month, the annual consumer price index increased by 11.1%.
  • The data comes days ahead of the country's annual budget.


ISLAMABAD: According to the statistics bureau, Pakistan's annual inflation rate slightly eased to 10.87% year-on-year in May.

That compared with an annual consumer price index increase of 11.1% in the previous month. The data came days ahead of the country's annual budget.

Prices of essential commodities, including chicken, eggs, meat, vegetables, pulses, sugar, and rice, have been on the rise, hitting hard a population already under pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) last week said that it expects the country's economy to shed the coronavirus shock this year and grow by 3.49% annually.

Read more: Pakistan's economy to shed COVID-19 shock this year: SBP

Pakistan suffered its first-ever economic contraction last fiscal year, since 1952 when its economy contracted by 0.4%. 

The SBP said the country's GDP is expected to rise to 3.49% as "post-Covid recovery underway since last summer has strengthened".

The central bank had earlier forecast that the economy will grow by 3% in the current fiscal year, revising its target from over 2%. 

It had said that the current account had gone into surplus for the first time in 17 years, adding that the foreign account reserves were also at a four-year high.