The recent data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) shows that the inflation for the month of July reached 8.4 per cent on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis.
This is a downward turn when compared to 9.7% in June 2021 and 9.3% in July 2020.
The data also showed that on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 1.3% in July 2021 compared to a decrease of 0.4% in the previous month and an increase of 2.5% in July 2020.
On the other hand, the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 16.2% year-on-year in July 2021 as compared to an increase of 17.6% a month earlier and an increase of 13.7% in July 2020.
Similarly, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) increased by 17.3% year-on-year in July 2021 compared to an increase of 20.9% a month earlier and an increase of 3.2% in July 2020.
Food sector inflation
In the food sector, on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the major products which saw an increase in inflation included tomatoes, onions, sugar, potatoes, eggs, vegetables among others.
Inflation went down compared to June 2021 for moong pulse, chicken, fruits, masoor pulse, mash pulse, and gram whole.
Similarly, on a YoY basis, the increase in inflation was seen in mustard Oil, sugar, eggs, wheat flour, milk, and meat, among others.
On the other hand, the decrease in inflation YoY was seen in tomatoes, moong pulse, potatoes, fruits, chicken, and vegetables.
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Trade deficit
Pakistan’s trade deficit has increased by 81.38 per cent Year-on-Year to $3.058 billion in July 2021 as compared to $1.686 billion in the corresponding month of 2020, Business Recorder reported.
Reportedly, the foreign trade figures for the first month of FY22 show that the imports stood at $5.405 billion as compared to $ 3.687 billion in July 2020, showing a massive growth of 46.6 percent or $1.718 billion.
It must be mentioned that the exports have shown an increase of 17.3 per cent YoY to $2.347 billion in July 2021 as compared to $2.001 billion in July 2020.
In a press conference on Monday, Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood said that for the fiscal year 2021-22, the exports target for goods will be $31.2 billion, and the services sector export target would be $7.5 billion, making the overall target of $38.7 billion in total exports for FY22.
He claimed that the range of targeted exports for the current fiscal year would be between $38.7 billion and $40 billion.
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