Eating french fries will cost more now as the price of potatoes increased by 63% in July 2020 compared to July 2019, according to the data released on Monday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The inflation rate, the overall increase in prices of essential goods and services, for July was 9.3% as compared to the previous years, according to the bureau. The overall inflation rate was higher than central bank’s own forecast.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures prices of a ‘basket’ of 480 common goods and services such as the cost of education, house rent, utility bills and food and beverages, is expected to range between 7% and 9% for fiscal year 2021, State Bank of Pakistan said in June.
Higher than expected inflation rate was primarily driven by the government’s decision to increase petrol price by Rs25 per litre for July. The average inflation rate for fiscal year 2020 was 10.74%, the highest annual inflation rate in the last eight years.
