ISLAMABAD:The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based on monthly inflation increased by 12.72% on year-on-year (YoY) basis during the month of March 2022 against the corresponding month of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday.
According to PBS data, the average inflation rate during the period from July to March (2021-22) went up to 10.77 over the same period of the preceding year.
On month-on-month (MoM) basis, it increased by 0.79% when compared to previous month (February).
On year-on-year basis, the food commodities that contributed in urban food inflation during March 2022 over the same month of last year included tomatoes (148.65%), mustard oil (59.91%), vegetable ghee (49.56%), cooking oil (48.05%), pulse Masoor (38.32%), vegetables (34.92%), fruits (32.00%), gram whole (25.37%), meat (23.68%), chicken (19.59%) and beans (13.62%).
The food commodities that witnessed decline in prices included pulse Moong (27.11%), eggs (20.32%), condiments & spices (15.41%), sugar (10.7%) and potatoes (9.49%).
The non-food commodities that witnessed increase in prices included liquefied hydrocarbons (78.88%), motor fuel (36.98%), cleaning & laundering (23.60%), washing soap/detergents/match box (16.71%), motor vehicle accessories (15.63%) and solid fuel (12.88%).
In rural inflation, the food commodities that contributed in upward growth of CPI included tomatoes (158.82%), cooking oil (63.47%), mustard oil (57.2%), vegetable ghee (56.43%), vegetables (45.62%), fruits (37.80%), pulse Masoor (37.46%), gram whole (33.39%), meat (25.19%), beans (17.38%), wheat flour (16.22%), chicken (15.09%) and tea (11.74%).
The food commodities that witnessed decrease in prices included pulse Moong (27.05%), eggs (15.05%), condiments & spices (14.89%), sugar (9.62%) and potatoes (9.00%).
The non-food commodities that contributed in rural inflation included liquefied hydrocarbons (59.03%), motor fuels (35.77%), washing soaps/detergents/match box (19.85%), cleaning & laundering (19.28%), motor vehicles accessories (16.32%), construction input items (16.07%), solid fuel (15.07%) and hosiery (15.04%).
It is pertinent to mention here that the CPI on new base (2015-16) comprises of urban CPI and Rural CPI. The Urban CPI covers 35 cities and 356 consumer items while the Rural CPI covers 27 Rural Centers and 244 consumer items.
In the base year (2015-16) National CPI for 12 major groups is also computed by taking weighted average of Urban CPI and Rural CPI.