Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2 percent year-on-year, in line with ministry forecast

A customer buys vegetables from a stall at a market in Karachi on July 3, 2023. (AFP/ file)
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  • On a month-on-month basis, prices increased 0.2 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent decline in May
  • The data comes after Pakistan’s central bank kept key interest rate unchanged at 11 percent in June

KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer price inflation rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in June, the statistics bureau said on Tuesday, broadly in line with the finance ministry’s projection of 3 percent to 4 percent issued a day earlier.

On a month-on-month basis, prices increased 0.2 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent decline in May.

The data comes after Pakistan’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 11 percent in June.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in its latest monetary policy statement that inflation was expected to show some near-term volatility but gradually stabilize within the 5 percent to 7 percent target range.

The figures also come weeks after Pakistan unveiled its annual budget, which included new revenue measures and subsidy cuts as part of efforts to secure a long-term loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Analysts have warned that higher energy and tax costs could stoke inflation in the second half of the year.

Pakistan’s stock exchange rose 2.3 percent on the day to close at an all-time high of 128475.7 points, on Tuesday, the first day of the new fiscal year.