RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Turbat has been declared the most-inflated city in August 2017 while Vehari and Mianwali were ranked second and third most-inflated among 40 cities of Pakistan, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) inflation monitor.

Among 40 leading cities of the country, some 17 has been identified as high-inflation cities, while 23 were declared low-inflated cities.

CPI Inflation on year-on-year basis in federal and provincial capitals of Pakistan showed mixed trend during August 2017. Among Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad, the lowest inflation was observed in Karachi at 1.7 percent (including 2.5 percent non-food and 0.7 percent food) while the highest inflation was registered in Lahore at 5.1 percent (including 6 percent non-food and 4 percent food).

The inflation in Islamabad and Peshawar was 5 and 2.1 percent, respectively, during the period under review. In addition, some 2.9 percent inflation was registered in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan province.

Turbat, another city of Balochistan, has witnessed highest inflation during the last month. Turbat observed 7.6 percent general inflation (year-on-year basis) comprising 1.3 percent food and 11.3 percent non-food inflation in August 2017.

During the period under review, Nawabshah (Sindh) was the cheapest city as it posted “negative” inflation. In Nawabshah, CPI inflation was minus 0.6 percent comprising minus 1.3 percent food and 0.2 percent non-food during the last month.

Out of 40 leading cities, Vehari was the second highest-inflated city as it observed CPI inflation at 7.3 percent. With 6.8 percent inflation, Mianwali stands on third ranked in Aug 2017.

According to the SBP’s inflation monitor headline CPI inflation was recorded at the level of 3.4 percent on year-on-year basis in August 2017 as compared to 2.9 percent in the previous month and 3.6 percent in the corresponding month of last year.