Pakistan’s inflation has dropped to 4.9% in November 2024, the lowest level in nearly 6.5 years, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Khurram Schehzad, the newly-appointed Advisor to the Finance Minister on Economic and Financial Reforms, stated that this slowdown in inflation should prompt the central bank to ease monetary policy further.
In a post on social media platform X, Schehzad highlighted that the inflation rate for November 2024 is the lowest in nearly 78 months. He emphasized that this decline in inflation could lead to lower interest rates, benefiting businesses by reducing borrowing costs and helping the government save on debt servicing, which could improve Pakistan’s fiscal balance in the coming months.
The latest data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) shows that inflation has decreased from 7.2% in October 2024 to 4.9% in November 2024. This brings the average inflation for the first five months of FY25 to 7.88%, significantly lower than the 28.62% recorded in the same period last year.
With inflation continuing to decrease, there are growing expectations that the State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will further lower the policy rate at its meeting scheduled for December 16. In the previous meeting in November, the SBP reduced the key rate by 250 basis points to 15%.
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