By Ariba Shahid<\/p>\n
Pakistan’s consumer price inflation accelerated to 6.2% year-on-year in October, the highest reading in 12 months, data showed on Monday, as food prices rose following floods and temporary border disruptions strained supply chains. <\/p>\n
On a month-on-month basis, prices were up 1.8%, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said. <\/p>\n
The data came a week after the State Bank of Pakistan kept its key policy rate unchanged at 11% for a fourth straight meeting, saying inflation was expected to stay above its 5% to 7% target range for a few months before easing next fiscal year. <\/p>\n
Inflation has moderated from nearly 30% a year ago to below 6% in mid-2025 before edging up again, as the fading base effect and temporary supply shocks began to lift prices. <\/p>\n
FLOODS AND CONFLICT <\/p>\n
Last week the government forecast inflation in the 5% to 6% range for October, noting that flood-related supply pressures and border closures with Afghanistan had pushed up prices of some essential goods. <\/p>\n
Floods in August swamped farmland and industrial hubs in Punjab, killing more than 1,000 people, displacing 2.5 million and damaging crops and factories, tightening food supplies across the country. <\/p>\n
The pressure was compounded by border clashes with Afghanistan that shut major crossings used for food and fuel trade. The two countries later agreed to extend a ceasefire , but crossings remained restricted after October 11, disrupting commerce and deepening shortages in Pakistan’s northwestern regions. <\/p>\n
The central bank said the overall economic outlook had improved, with better-than-expected crop yields, stronger industrial activity and a rebound in high-frequency indicators, though risks from global commodity volatility and domestic energy prices remain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ariba Shahid Pakistan’s consumer price inflation accelerated to 6.2% year-on-year in October, the highest reading in 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-115481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}