Record Breaking Inflation In Pakistan: January 2023

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan’s Consumer Price Index-based inflation surged to 27.6 percent on a year-over-year (YoY) basis in January 2023, up from 24.5 percent the previous month and 13 percent in January 2022. (PBS).

This year’s inflation rate in Pakistan, at 27.6%, is the highest since May 1975. The effects of the rupee devaluation and increases in the price of gasoline, electricity, and gas have yet to be felt with food inflation at 43%.

Month-over-month (MoM) growth grew to 2.9 percent in January 2023 as opposed to 0.5 percent growth the month before and 0.4 percent growth in January 2022. This raises the average inflation rate for 7MFY23 to 25.4 percent from 10.3 percent in 7MFY22.

In January 2023, the urban CPI climbed by 24.4 percent on a year-over-year basis, up from 13.0 percent in January 2022 and 21.6 percent the month before. In comparison to increases of 0.1 percent in January 2022 and 0.3 percent in the month before, it grew to 2.4 percent on a month-over-month basis in January 2023.

In January 2023, the CPI in Rural climbed by 32.3 percent year over year, up from 12.9 percent in January 2022 and a rise of 28.8 percent the month before. On a month-over-month basis, it grew to 3.6 percent in January 2023 as opposed to a 0.7 percent increase the month before and a 0.9 percent increase in January 2022.

SPI inflation on a year-over-year basis jumped to 30.5 percent in January 2023, up from 20.9 percent in January 2022 and a month earlier of 27.8 percent. On a month-over-month basis, it climbed by 1.3 percent in January 2023 as opposed to a 0.2 percent increase the previous month and a 0.8 percent decline in January 2022.

WPI inflation climbed year over year in January 2023 from 27.1 percent the previous month and 24.0 percent in January 2022, reaching 28.5 percent. On a month-over-month basis, it rose by 1.8 percent in January 2023 compared to a drop of 0.7 percent the previous month and a rise of 0.6 percent in the same month the previous year, i.e. January 2022.