Pakistan’s Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based monthly inflation slowed to 10.24 per cent in March 2020 as compared to the previous month, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
This is the second month in a row that the CPI reading has eased by more than 2 per cent. The bureau had recorded CPI inflation at 12.4 per cent in February. Inflation at 10.2 per cent is the lowest reading in the past seven months.
According to PBS data, commodity prices remained largely unchanged and markets functioned normally in March despite partial lockdown of the country to control the spread of coronavirus.
In addition to fuel charges, the prices of food items, including pulses, fresh vegetables and wheat, which have been the main drivers of inflation, also saw a significant downtrend, the bureau said.
However, it added, the real impact of slash in demand or short supply of commodities due to the shutdown of the market is yet to come.
“The government’s move to keep the trade of groceries unaffected may support the fall of inflation even in the coming months.”
The average inflation in the first nine months (July-March) of fiscal year 2020 stood at 11.53 per cent, which in the same period of the last year was 6.3 per cent.
As per the data, the rate of inflation during the month under review slowed down both in urban and rural areas. Food inflation in urban areas that stood at 15.2 per cent in the preceding month eased to 13 per cent in March. Similarly, in rural areas, the food inflation pace slowed down from 19.7 per cent in February to 15.5 per cent last month.
