Pakistan June inflation rises 3.2% y/y, in line with forecast

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

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

The data comes after Pakistan's central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 11 per cent 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 stabilise within the 5 per cent to 7 per cent 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 programme 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 per cent on the day to close at an all-time high of 128475.7 points, on Tuesday, the first day of the new fiscal year.