ZAHEER ABBASI

ISLAMABAD: Headline inflation increased by 2.11 percent in April 2015 over the same month of last fiscal year and the government attributed the increase to higher school and stationery cost.

Addressing a new conference, Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa said that a 7.12 percent increase in the prices of clothing and footwear as well as a 13.16 percent increase in education expenditure contributed to a monthly increase of 1.32 percent in inflation during April 2015 over the previous month.

He said there was an increase in prices of books and tuition fee of schools and colleges at the beginning of new educational year. Bajwa added that Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained at 4.81 percent during 10 months of the current fiscal year and a 20 percent annual increase was recorded in the price of alcoholic beverage and tobacco. He also maintained that trend of inflation during the current fiscal year is expected to remain at the current level.

The price of perishable food items increased by 0.32 percent in April 2015 over same month a year ago, alcoholic beverages & tobacco by 20.16 percent, clothing & footwear by 7.12 percent, housing water, electricity, gas & other fuels by 4.88 percent, furnishing & household equipment maintenance by 5.01 percent, health by 4.47 percent, communication by 0.38 percent, cost of recreation & culture soared by 2.55 percent, cost of education increased by 13.16 percent, restaurant & hotel by 4.54 percent and miscellaneous goods & services cost increased by 5.09 percent in April, 2015. The trimmed core inflation during the month of April over same month of last fiscal year has been recorded at 3.1 percent against nine percent in April 2014, while non-food and non-energy core inflation was recorded at 5.4 percent against 8.5 percent over the same month of previous year.

The prices of onion increased by (51.16 percent) in April 2015 over March 2015 fresh vegetables (14.33 percent), chicken (11.07 percent), fresh fruits (9.93 percent), sugar (5.85 percent), tea (3.37 percent), pulse mash (2.19 percent) and gur (1.67 percent). The cost of education increased by (8.66 percent), sewing needle (8.01 percent), textbooks (3.28 percent), readymade garments (3.00 percent), tailoring (1.52 percent), kerosene oil (1.47 percent), doctor (MBBS) (1.46 percent), personal equipment (1.33 percent), hosiery (1.26 percent), medical (1.21 percent) and cotton cloths (1.02 percent).

The price of tomatoes in April over March 2015 decreased by (21.84 percent), potatoes (16.02 percent), eggs (7.07 percent), vegetable ghee tin (4.03 percent), cooking oil tin (3.27 percent), wheat (2.18 percent), mustard oil (1.46 percent), beans (1.43 percent), fish (1.39 percent), pulse gram (1.36 percent), wheat flour (1.32 percent) and rice (1.05 percent). Motor vehicle accessories cost decreased by (1.59 percent), motor vehicles (0.28 percent) and firewood whole (0.15 percent).