Consumer Price Index (CPI) on year on year basis during January 2017 witnessed an increase of 3.66 per cent as compared to same month of last year.
On month on month basis the inflation was recorded at 0.18 percent in January 2017 as compared to December 2017, Asif Bajwa, Chief Statistician Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said, while presenting data of monthly inflation figures here while addressing a press conference.
According to the data, average CPI based inflation during first seven months of the current fiscal year (July January)increased by 3.85 per cent as compared to same period of previous year.
The PBS collects the retail and the wholesale prices and computes the CPI and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on monthly basis while the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) is calculated on weekly basis.
In January 2017, the WPI increased by 0.51 percent while SPI decreased by 0.8 percent, according to the data.
The non food and non energy core inflation during January 2017 was observed as 5.4 percent compared to January 2016, during which it was recorded at 4.3 percent compared to January 2015.
The trimmed core inflation has been observed at 3.8 percent in January 2017 compared to January 2016, the data revealed.
On year on year basis, the top ten items that witnessed increase in prices on in January 2017 compared to the same month of last year included gram whole (48.92%), lederplex syrup (48.66%), peas (37.50%), Entox Tablet (36.70%), Dettol Medium (34.98%), Garlic (34.74 %), gram pulse (34.04%), cabbage (32.37%), gram whole black (30.87%) and
besan (28.65%).
The top ten items that witnessed decrease in prices in January 2017 compared to January 2016 included onions (39.07%), tomatoes (20.62%), chicken (16.97%), moong pulse (13.37%), bus fare within city (12.29%), cucumber (11.45%), mash pulse (10.86%), petrol (10.78%), motor cycle tyre without tube (9.98%) and tapal danedar (8.51%).
On month on month basis, the top items which had recorded increase in their average prices in January 2017 included cucumber (10.44%), pomegranate (9.02 %), kinnu (4.46%), guava (4.39%), malta/mosambi (3.57%), bananas (3.42%), sugar refined (3.10%), toothpowder (2.46%), house rent (2%) prices of petrol and diesel increased by 1.33 percent.
The items which registered decreased in their average prices in January 2017 against December 2016 included tomatoes (39.98%), peas (34.42%), potatoes (29.65%), carrot (28.07%), cabbage (15.51%), turnip (13.81%), radish (13%), chillies green (9.55%), spinach (9.38%) while the prices of ginger increased by 8.94 percent. (AFP)
