Consumers Feel the Squeeze as Food Inflation Rises by 4%

The consumer price index, an index model used to evaluate the variations in consumer prices, has increased 4% this November as compared to November 2016. An increase in the CPIs of some high-demand food products has affected and contributed to this month’s high CPI.

On a monthly basis, the index increased by 0.7% in October and November showed a 0.4% increase. If we compare this with the previous year, the prices inflated by 0.2% in November 2016.

Data published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics this Tuesday shows a steady increase in inflation using the CPI model. The start of the year 2017-18, or more specifically the indices in the 5 months of the year have increased consistently. The price variations occurring in around 480 essential items are tracked using the CPI by the bureau each month.

This fiscal year, between July and November the inflation figure is a favorable 3.59% – this is slightly lower when compared with the 3.92% of the same time frame of last year.

The “food” category has been sub-categorized into “perishable” and “non-perishable” products in the bureau’s publication. Year-to-year, perishable products has been increased by 17.91 whereas non-perishable products show an increase of 0.82.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Report

Top few commodities which varied from previous month are given below:

• Food Items

Increased: Eggs (30.09%), Potatoes (5.66%), Betel Leaves & Nuts (4.75%), Tomatoes (3.61%), Wheat Flour (1.99%), Chicken (1.95%), Fish (1.64%), Wheat (1.63%), Dry Fruits (1.58%), Honey (1.39%) and Bakery & Confectionary (1.19%).
Decreased: Pulse Mash (5.26%), Fresh Fruits (4.76%), Pulse Moong (4.19%), Onion (2.81%), Pulse Masoor (2.25%), Pulse Gram (2.06%), Sugar (1.99%) and Gur (1.55%).

• Non-food Items

Increased: Kerosene Oil (4.71%), Motor Fuel (2.22%), Personal Equipments (2.18%), Woolen Readymade Garments (1.53%), Blades (1.52%), Education (1.39%), Medical Tests (1.19%), Furniture (1.02%) and Tailoring (0.91%).

Top few commodities which varied from previous year i.e. November 2016 are given below:

• Food Items

Increased: Onion (187.02%), Tomatoes (107.51%), Rice (14.10%), Eggs (12.94%), Betel Leaves & Nuts (11.34%), Tea (10.73%), Meat (7.26%), Honey (7.24%), Readymade Food (6.38%) and Fresh Fruits (6.27%).
Decreased: Pulse Gram (28.40%), Pulse Mash (27.79%), Sugar (25.60%), Pulse Moong (20.28%), Pulse Masoor (20.27%), Besan (19.13%), Cigarettes (16.67%) and Chicken (11.73%).

• Non-food Items

Increased: Drugs & Medicines (15.00%), Education (12.40%), Motor Fuel (11.81%), Kerosene Oil (10.23%), Tailoring (7.89%), Medical Tests (7.14%) Construction wage Rates (6.97%), Personal Equipments (6.77%), Cleaning and Laundry (6.58%) and House Rent (6.49%).

Via PBSReport