Pakistan’s consumer inflation eased to 5.7 percent in January 2021,compared with December’s 8 percent.
According to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, CPIinflation General, increased by 5.7% on a year-on-year basis in January2021 as compared to an increase of 8.0% in the previous month and 14.6% inJanuary 2020. On a month-on-month basis, it decreased by 0.2% in January2021 as compared to a decrease of 0.7% in the previous month and anincrease of 2.0% in January 2020.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan took to Twitter on Sunday and claimed thatinflation has currently declined from the level it was at in 2018 when thePakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had come to power.
His tweet read: “The government’s efforts are coming to fruition as boththe consumer price index and core inflation had touched lower than the timeof government’s formation”.
He went on to say, “More good news on the economic front. Consumer priceindex & core inflation are both now lower than when our government wasformed”.——————————
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The premier also instructed his economic team to stay vigilant and ensurethat inflation stays under control.
The Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Asad Umar,concurred with the PM’s statement and tweeted that inflation during January2021 had reduced to 5.7 percent while the core inflation had been at 5.4percent.
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He tweeted, “In July 2018, prior to the PTI government’s formation, CPI was5.8 percent and core inflation was 7.6 percent”.
According to PBS, the CPI inflation Urban, increased by 5.0% on ayear-on-year basis in January 2021 as compared to an increase of 7.0% inthe previous month and 13.4% in January 2020. On a month-on-month basis, itdecreased by 0.2% in January 2021 as compared to a decrease of 0.3% in theprevious month and an increase of 1.7% in January 2020.
CPI inflation Rural, increased by 6.6% on a year-on-year basis in January2021 as compared to an increase of 9.5% in the previous month and 16.3% inJanuary 2020. On a month-on-month basis, it decreased by 0.3% in January2021 as compared to a decrease of 1.2% in the previous month and anincrease of 2.4% in January 2020.
But the CPI basket prices are up by 23% and food prices by 31% since July18. The prices of essential items have increased to between 50 and 80percent in the retail market as compared to the prices in 2017-18.
According to the Economic Survey 2019-2020, the Consumer Price Index (CPI)had been 4.5 percent and core inflation had been 4.7 percent in 2017.
