Pakistan inflation over 6% for second straight month in Nov

Pakistan’s inflation rate stayed above 6% for the second consecutive month in November, broadly in line with the analysts’ expectations.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, inflation in November stood at around 6.1%, compared with 4.9% in the same month last year.

Month-on-month, inflation eased slightly from 6.2% in the last month.

Pakistan tracks inflation weekly and monthly. The former is called the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) while the latter is tracked through the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

During the first five months of fiscal year 2026 (July-November), the average CPI reached 5.01%, down sharply from 7.88% during the same period last year.

In November, food inflation jumped 5.5% year-on-year, as supply chain issues caused by this year’s floods continue to disrupt the market.

Other categories which recorded an increase include education (9%), health (8.3%), clothing (6.5%), transport (6.1%), housing (+5.3%), and beverage (+4.5%).

Individually, the biggest increase was recorded in the price of sugar (42.94%), gas (29.85%), ladies sandal (24.75%), wheat flour (20kg) (17.96%), gur (16.98%) and beef (13.82%).

On a month-on-month basis, inflation rose by 0.4%.

The top few commodities that varied from previous month were onions (47.94%), chicken (17.36%), eggs (7.92%), fish (2.94%), potatoes (2.67%), and Fruits (2.27%).

The prices of Tomatoes fell by 53.31%, pulse gram by 7.69%, fresh vegetables 5.90%, besan (4.68%), gram whole (2.37%), and pulse moong (1.98%).

The World Bank has warned that flood-related shocks to food supply could push inflation higher than earlier projections, peaking at 7.2% in FY26 before easing to 6.8% in FY27 as food supply constraints resolve, global commodity and energy prices decline, and the exchange rate remains market-determined.

The floods are expected to disproportionately impact poor and vulnerable rural households that have lost agricultural assets and have limited savings or coping mechanisms. These pressures are compounded by rising food inflation and the instability of informal, low-skill employment in industry and services sectors.

Despite the recent uptick, headline inflation had dropped sharply to 4.5% year over year in FY25 from 23.4% in FY24—its lowest level since FY18. The decline was attributed to lower electricity tariffs, adequate food supplies, favorable base effects, easing global commodity prices, and a market-determined exchange rate.

On the demand side, fiscal consolidation helped contain domestic demand pressures, reinforcing the disinflationary trend through FY25.