Pakistan’s inflation eases to 5.65pc in January

The inflation rate eased to 5.65 per cent in January, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Monday, from 8pc the previous month.

A decrease in the prices of vegetables, pulses, eggs, spices and chicken helped bring down the consumer price index (CPI), the bureau said.

It said the Urban CPI recorded a decrease of 0.16pc while Rural CPI recorded a drop of 0.29pc. The average inflation rate from July-January (2020-21) was 8.19pc and food inflation at 13.79pc over the year earlier period.

After touching as high as over 14pc early last year, the January reading was the first time that core inflation has come down to the level of what the PTI government had inherited when it came to power in August 2018.

“Our efforts to reduce inflation are now showing results,” Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted on Sunday. “Consumer price index and core inflation are both now lower than when our government was formed,” he said.

Planning Minister Asad Umar also said on Twitter that inflation during January was down to 5.7pc, while core inflation was at 5.4pc, both lower than when the PTI government took over.

“In July 2018, prior to the PTI government’s formation, CPI was 5.8pc and core inflation was 7.6pc,” the minister wrote.

The opposition blames the government’s mismanagement of the economy for having brought the GDP down to as low as 0.4pc from 5.8pc during the PML-N government and the inflation jumping to as high as 14pc from below 4pc.

IMF has forecasted the economy to grow 1.5pc this year against the government’s target of 2.3pc in the fiscal year 2020-21.