Pakistan’s headline inflation persisted at 27.4 percent on-year in August, official data showed, as the falling rupee and rising notes blamed on an IMF bailout package hampered government efforts to control prices. .
Pakistan came to the brink of default this summer, before the International Monetary Fund agreed to a lifeline deal on the condition that the government cut subsidies that had cushioned living costs.
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Pakistan’s headline inflation persisted at 27.4 percent on-year in August, official data showed, as the falling rupee and rising notes blamed on an IMF bailout package hampered government efforts to control prices. .
Pakistan came to the brink of default this summer, before the International Monetary Fund agreed to a lifeline deal on the condition that the government cut subsidies that had cushioned living costs.
Since then, the rupee has crossed a record threshold of 300 to the dollar, while Islamabad has driven up oil prices and electricity costs have skyrocketed, sowing widespread discontent.
Prices rose 1.7 percent month on month in August, according to government statistics released Friday, and the 27.4 percent year-on-year figure was just one point below July’s, indicating little relief.
In August, motor fuel cost eight percent more than in July, while urban water bills rose more than 11 percent and the price of tomatoes rose as much as 82 percent.
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Retailers in Pakistan said they will keep shops closed on Saturday in protest of rising costs that have become a lightning rod for public anger ahead of the upcoming general election.
jts/acs