Pakistan’s annual inflation rose to 3.5 percent in May 2025 compared to just 0.3 percent the previous month and 11.8 percent in May 2024, as per the latest figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday.
On a monthly basis, inflation dropped slightly by 0.2 percent in May 2025, which is a smaller decline than the 0.8 percent fall seen in April, and far less than the 3.2 percent dip reported in May last year.
For the first eleven months of the current fiscal year (11MFY25), inflation has averaged 4.61 per cent, much lower than the 24.52 per cent recorded during the same period last year.
In urban areas, CPI inflation for May 2025 was 3.5 percent year-on-year, up from 0.5 percent in April and 14.3 percent in May 2024.
Month-on-month, it nudged up by 0.1 percent. In rural areas, CPI inflation rose to 3.4 percent year-on-year after showing a slight decline last month, but month-on-month it decreased by 0.5 percent.
The Sensitive Price Index (SPI), which tracks essential household items, showed a year-on-year drop of 0.6 percent in May 2025, compared to a larger decline of 3.6 percent in April and a 15.3 percent decrease last May. Month-on-month, SPI also fell by 1.0 percent.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation saw a modest increase of 0.4 percent year-on-year in May after declining by 2.2 percent in April, while month-on-month figures remained unchanged.
Core inflation, which strips out food and energy costs, recorded a mixed trend. In urban areas, core inflation slightly eased to 7.3 percent year-on-year in May from 7.4 percent in April and 12.3 percent in May 2024.
It also declined by 0.4 percent month-on-month. In rural areas, core inflation dropped to 8.8 percent year-on-year from 9.0 percent a month earlier, and declined by 0.4 percent over the month.
Trimmed core inflation, which reflects a more stable measure by removing extreme values, rose in urban areas to 4.9 percent year-on-year in May from 3.8 percent in April and 11.0 percent last year.
It increased slightly by 0.1 percent month-on-month. In rural regions, the trimmed measure climbed to 4.7 percent year-on-year from 3.3 percent in April, but showed a 0.2 percent month-on-month decline.