ISLAMABAD - Inflationary pressure in Pakistan has been further trickled down to 6.6 percent during March 2013 on a yearly basis particularly due to declining trends in food items, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The rate of inflation in Pakistan remained within single digits during the ongoing financial year 2012-13. Average inflation for the ongoing financial year 2012-13 is projected to remain between eight and nine per cent, well within the target of 9.5 per cent.
The Ministry of Finance has targeted the single-digit inflation for 2012-13 on the back of considerable improvement in the supply of essential items during last fiscal year.
However, the independent economists cautioned that government’s continuous printing of currency notes to finance the budget could drive the prices up. However, it seems that the government will keep printing currency similar to previous fiscal year due to increasing expenditures and declining revenues.
According to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) has recorded at 8 per cent during the first nine months (July-March) of the ongoing fiscal year 2012-13 over the corresponding period last year. Meanwhile, Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation surged by 8 per cent and Wholesale Price Indicator (WPI) based inflation increased by 8.05 per cent during July-March of the ongoing financial year 2012-13.
Meanwhile, according to the PBS figures, CPI based inflation decreased by 0.3 per cent in March 2013 against February.
The break-up of CPI-based general inflation (6.57 per cent in March 2013 over March 2012) showed that food and non-alcoholic beverages prices have gone up by 5.86 per cent, alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices have increased by 16.90 per cent, clothing and footwear prices soared by 12.59 per cent, housing water, electricity and gas fuels, 3.56per cent, health care charges went up by, 12.40 per cent, transportation charges, 6.02 per cent, communication charges 5.07 per cent, recreation and culture charges went up by 18.16 per cent, education charges, 8.67 per cent and restaurants and hotel charges by 8.57 per cent and miscellaneous 7.45 per cent in March 2013 against the same month of the preceding year 2012.
Meanwhile, according to the PBS figures, price of onions has increased by 29.50 per cent in the month of March against February, price of tomatoes enhanced by 17.08 per cent, price of tea went up by 5.44 per cent, price of fresh fruits surged by 4.18 per cent, price of beverages increased by 2.59 per cent, fresh vegetables price surged by 1.23 per cent, bean prices increased by 0.91 per cent, milk powdered price enhanced by 0.63 per cent, in March 2013 as compare to February.
Similarly, price of newspaper increased by 8.19 per cent, price of text books enhanced by 3.18 per cent, water supply charges up by 2.88 per cent, cost of transport services went up by 1.49 per cent, education, 1.19 per cent, construction input items prices up by 1.11 per cent, price of cleaning and laundry increased by, 0.97 per cent and readymade garments prices enhanced by 0.82 per cent in March 2013 against February 2013.
However, according to the PBS figures, price of chicken decreased 8.19 per cent, price of spices down by 6.11 per cent, prices of pulse gram went down by 4.60 per cent, prices of potatoes reduce by 2.48 per cent, price of fish down by 1.73 per cent, gur prices decreased by 0.76 per cent in March 2013 against in February.