Pakistan CPI at 6.9% in September: Economic Improvement?

Islamabad, Oct 1 (PTI) As a sign of improving economic conditions, Pakistan's consumer price index for September clocked in at 6.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY), remaining within the central bank's target of 5 to 7 per cent for next year, according to data released on Tuesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) was announced by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), which collects data on prices.

The 6.7 per cent in September is the lowest in almost four years, according to the Dawn newspaper.

The CPI measures household inflation and includes statistics about price change for categories of household expenditure.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the PBS noted that it had decreased by 0.5 per cent in September compared to an increase of 0.4 per cent in the previous month.

The data showed that inflation was within the central bank's target of 5 to 7 per cent for next year.

The recent policies of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to avoid aggressive monetary easing have helped bring inflation down and maintain microeconomic stability.

Ayesha Zafar a financial analyst at Capital Investments said the central bank's policies had helped bring down inflation to the same rate as targeted for September 2025.

“I think the aggressive monetary tightening, lot of stress on increasing tax net and the International Montery Fund (IMF) loan are all factors contributing to an easing of the economic scenario,” she said.

Pakistan saw the inflation rate rise to 9.6 per cent year-on-year in August, marking a 34-month-low. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said his government's economic team was taking measures to improve the economic outlook in the country.

Pakistan last got over USD 1 billion from the IMF under an agreement to receive USD 7 billion over a period of 39 months.

The government led by Prime Sharif has been struggling to fix the economy and reduce the burden on the masses.