Inflation rate up 10.66pc during first quarter

ISLAMABAD , Pakistan – Inflation rate up 10.66pc during first quarter, Inflation remains in double digits in the first quarter (July-September) of current fiscal year 2009-10 despite State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) pursued tight monetary policy in the aforementioned period to arrest it.

The SBP in its latest monetary policy has maintained mark up rate at 13 percent to control the soaring inflation, which enhanced by 10.66 percent in July-September 2009.

The government in the current federal budget targeted to bring inflation down to a single digit in the year 2009. The economists believed that the government would achieve the target before December this year, as the prices of petroleum products are dipping in international market.

Meanwhile, the inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged by 10.66 percent in the first three months of the current financial year against the same period of last fiscal year, Federal Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday.

According to the figures, the inflation measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) enhanced by 0.49 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, while inflation based on Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) was recorded at 9.29 percent in the under reviewed period, the data further revealed.

The break-up of CPI based on general inflation (10.66 percent in September 2009) illustrated that apart from 10.02 percent food inflation, apparel, textile and footwear inflation soared by 5.57 percent in September 2009 over the same period of the last year. Similarly, house rents increased by 16.77 percent.