ISLAMABAD: (Parliament Times) Â Year-on-year infÂlaÂtion in January remained 3.7 per cent, unchanged from the preceding month, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Wednesday.
The main measure of inflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI), was expected to rise owing to a slight increase in the price of petroleum products in January.
The CPI tracks prices of nearly 500 commodities every month across the country. The annual inflation target is 6pc for 2016-17. In the preceding fiscal year, average annual inflation was recorded at 2.86pc.
Average annual inflation in the first half of the current fiscal year (July-Jan) stood at 3.85pc against 2.26pc in the same period a year ago.
The food group, whose weight in the CPI basket is 37pc, rose 2.6pc year-on-year in January. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation dropped 1.17pc in January due to an 8.51pc decline in the prices of perishable products. Food items whose prices increased in January included tomatoes 39.98pc, potatoes 29.65pc, fresh vegetables 10.46pc, pulse mash 3.78pc, pulse moong 3.69pc, eggs 2.68pc, pulse masoor 2.53pc, besan 2.38pc, chicken 2.38pc and pulse gram 2.07pc.
Core inflation, measured by exclÂuding the volatile food and energy prices, was recorded at 5.4pc in January, up 1.1pc from the preceding month. Core inflation has remained subdued since November 2015 because of a tighter monetary policy and reduction in food and fuel prices.
Government borrowing is one of the key factors influencing the trend of core inflation as there is a positive relation between the two.
The government kept the interest rate unchanged in the recent monetary policy. Non-food inflation was recorded at 4.4pc in January. It witnessed an increase of 1.1pc over the preceding month.
Among non-food groups, drugs and medicines went up 13.02pc, house rent 2pc, motor fuel 1.19pc and woollen readymade garments 1.07pc.
The education and health indices rose 11.49pc and 14.88pc, respectively, in January on a year-on-year basis. The second highest increase of 12.11pc was witnessed in the index of alcoholic beverages and tobacco.
The index of clothing and footwear rose 4.31pc and that of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels surged 4.89pc.
