Pakistan's annual inflation rate eased to a three-month low of 6.17 percent in December 2018 from 6.50 percent in the previous month. Prices rose at a slower pace for: food & non-alcoholic beverages (0.05 percent vs 1.02 percent in November); housing, water, electricity, gas & fuels (9.08 percent vs 9.11 percent) and transport (18.21 percent vs 19.77 percent). Meanwhile, prices increased faster for: clothing & footwear (7.73 percent vs 7.49 percent); education (10.37 percent vs 10.01 percent) and furnishing & household equipment maintenance (8.35 percent vs 7.48 percent) while inflation was steady for communication (at 7.83 percent). Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, edged up to 8.4 percent from 8.3 percent. On a monthly basis, consumer prices went down 0.41 percent, following a 0.11 percent gain in November. Inflation Rate in Pakistan averaged 7.75 percent from 1957 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 37.81 percent in December of 1973 and a record low of -10.32 percent in February of 1959.
Inflation Rate in Pakistan is expected to be 7.10 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Inflation Rate in Pakistan to stand at 7.40 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Pakistan Inflation Rate is projected to trend around 6.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.