Pakistan Ends FY26 With Higher Inflation Than Last Year

Pakistan’s inflation accelerated sharply in June 2026, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising to 7.05 percent, up nearly 57 percent from 4.49 percent recorded in June 2025, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

On a year-on-year basis, headline CPI inflation stood at 11.1 percent in June, easing slightly from 11.7 percent in May but remaining significantly higher than the 3.2 percent recorded in the same month last year.

On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices declined 0.3 percent after increasing 0.5 percent in May.

Urban inflation increased 11.2 percent year-on-year in June, compared with 11.8 percent in May and 3.0 percent a year earlier. On a monthly basis, urban prices fell 0.5 percent after rising 0.7 percent in the previous month.

Rural inflation reached 10.9 percent year-on-year, down from 11.5 percent in May but well above the 3.6 percent recorded in June 2025. Monthly rural inflation remained unchanged after increasing 0.3 percent in May.

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks short-term price movements of essential commodities, increased 12.8 percent year-on-year in June, compared with 12.0 percent in May. On a monthly basis, SPI remained unchanged at 0.7 percent.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation slowed to 10.7 percent year-on-year from 12.7 percent in May but remained significantly higher than the 0.6 percent recorded in June last year. Wholesale prices fell 1.2 percent on a monthly basis after declining 0.8 percent in May.

Core inflation also remained elevated despite easing marginally. Non-food, non-energy inflation in urban areas stood at 8.7 percent year-on-year, compared with 9.0 percent in May, while rural core inflation eased to 7.9 percent from 8.4 percent.

Meanwhile, trimmed mean core inflation, which excludes extreme price movements, stood at 9.6 percent in urban areas and 9.3 percent in rural areas, both slightly lower than the previous month but substantially higher than the corresponding readings in June 2025.