Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation during December stood at 7.9 percent against 6.9 percent of the preceding month of November. The number falls with the consensus range of 7.5 to 8 percent, said the analysts at Topline Research. This is the third consecutive month where inflation stood below 8 percent, they said. On month-on-month basis, the price hike was recorded at 0.2 percent as against negative 0.4 percent last month, while the average inflation in 1HFY13 stood at 8.3 percent versus 10.9 percent in the same period last year. “Though, detail numbers are still to be released but higher food inflation particularly in the perishable head be the major contributor behind this inflation,” said Topline analyst Nauman Khan. He said though the soft inflation numbers allowed further room for the central bank to continue the process of monetary easing, but a major change in discount rate could be a “threat to local currency”.
“We estimate FY13 average inflation to be around 8.5-9 percent, lower than government target of 9.5 percent,” said the analyst.
