Staff Reporter
Karachi
As per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), CPI for the month of Feb’20 clocked-in at 12.40% YoY (lower than expectation) compared to 6.8% YoY in Feb’19 and 14.56% in Jan’20, respectively. This took the 8MFY20 average inflation to 11.70% against 6.00% during 8MFY19. During the period under review, decline in monthly headline inflation was primarily led by Food Index (-1.99% MoM) due to decrease in prices of perishable food items especially Tomatoes, Potatoes, Fresh Vegetables and Onions.
On the other hand, Housing index decreased by 2.47% MoM on account of absence of monthly fuel charge for the month of Nov’19 which was not adjusted in Feb’20 along with drop in LPG prices by 11% MoM on the back of decline in international prices. Uptick in CPI reading stems from Transport, Food, Alcoholic Beverages, and Health, depicting an increase of 19.4%, 18.3%, 17.7%, and 11.8% YoY, respectively.
Commodities that led the inflationary trend include Onions (+103% YoY), Pulse Moong (+84% YoY), Potatoes (+83% YoY), Fresh Vegetables (+62% YoY), Gas (+55% YoY), and Pulse Mash (+51% YoY). On a MoM basis, inflation dropped by 1.04% in Feb’20 compared to +1.98% in Jan’20 and +0.86% in Feb’19. This took average monthly inflation to +0.99% in 8MFY20 compared to +0.50% in 8MFY19.
Decrease in inflation was primarily owing to Housing index and Food index which decreased by 2.47% MoM and 1.99% MoM. On a monthly basis, major price decrease was witnessed in Tomatoes, Eggs, Potatoes, Electricity Charges and Fresh Vegetables by 59%, 24%, 14%, 14% and 13%, respectively.