Pakistan’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation surprisingly fell to 10.19 per cent down during last month (November 2011) compared to the previous month’s CPI of 10.97 per cent. “This has happened after 23-months as last time such a low number was seen in December 2009,” observed analysts at Topline Securities.
On MoM basis, they said, inflation number after a gap of 5-month came below one per cent to stand around 0.3 per cent, while 5MFY12 CPI average stood at 11.1 per cent, down 300 basis points (bps) as compared to 14.1 per cent in the corresponding period last year. “The decline is primarily attributed to high base effect of last year along with effects of Eid and Sindh floods,” said Nauman Khan. Analysts said in FY12 inflation average would range between 11.5 and 12 per cent below the government target of 12 per cent. State Bank of Pakistan, in its monetary policy decision, announced on Wednesday, for the months of December and January, said inflation in Pakistan would remain in double digits during current fiscal year. Citing massive budgetary borrowings by the cash-strapped government as a major reason, central bank said inflation was unlikely to reduce to single digits even in the financial year 2013.