Pakistan’s inflation may climb as high as 12 percent this year, almost double the government’s target, because of record-high oil and food prices, threatening to cool demand and slow growth, the nation’s central bank said.
``Inflation is already a serious policy concern,’’ the bank said in a report released in Karachi today.
State Bank of Pakistan this month unexpectedly increased the benchmark interest rate for the second time this year, to slow inflation from the fastest in at least 25 years.
The surprise decision comes amid rising oil and food costs that pushed consumer prices 17.21 percent higher in April from a year earlier, following a 14.1 percent gain the previous month.
The $146 billion economy grew at an average annual pace of 7.5 percent in the past four years, according to the government. Growth may slow to 6 percent in the fiscal year ending June 30, from 7 percent in the previous 12 months, the government forecast.
No comments:
Post a Comment