ISLAMABAD: Consumer inflation climbed to 3.4 per cent year-on-year in the month of August, mostly on the back of increase in prices of petroleum and perishable products.

Month-on-month rise was 0.2pc, compared to 0.3pc increase in July, and 0.3pc in August 2016, according to figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The main inflation is measured through Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks prices of around 480 commodities every month in urban centres across the country. Average annual inflation in the first two months, ie from July-August, of the current fiscal year stood at 3.16pc against 3.84pc in the same period a year ago. The trend suggests the annual inflation remained within the target, and any increases are flattening out.

The annual inflation target for the current fiscal year is 6pc. The food group with 37.47pc weight in CPI basket showed an increase of 1.3pc in August.

On a month-on-month basis, overall food inflation increased 0.4pc in August due to an increase of 5.25pc in the prices of perishable and 1.71pc in non-perishable products.

Food items whose prices increased the most in August were onion 33.88pc; tomato 25.74pc; sugar 6.93pc; eggs 2.22pc; meat 1.92pc; potato 1.91pc; rice 1.6pc and fish 1.06pc. Food prices usually rise in the run up to Eid, but this year the rise has been slightly higher than normal.

Meanwhile, the Sensitive Price Index edged down 0.24pc and the Wholesale Price Index rose 0.84pc in August.None of these increases are considered abnormal by analysts.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2017