ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s consumer price inflation rose 5.8 percent year-on-year in January, official data showed on ​Monday, underscoring the central bank’s warning that price pressures could temporarily breach its target band as economic activity picks up.

The reading comes a week after the central bank held its policy rate at 10.50 percent, ‌saying inflation ‌could exceed its ‌5 percent ⁠to 7 percent ​medium-term ‌target range for a few months this year, even as growth gains momentum and imports push the trade deficit wider.

The reading from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics compared with 5.6 percent in ⁠December, when prices fell on a monthly ‌basis due to lower perishable ‍food costs.

On ‍a month-on-month basis, inflation increased by ‍0.4 percent in January.

The State Bank of Pakistan said it viewed the real policy rate as sufficiently positive to stabilize inflation ​over the medium term, even as it flagged stronger domestic demand ⁠and external pressures as upside risks to prices.

Pakistan’s finance ministry had projected inflation would remain within a 5 percent to 6 percent range in January.

An International Monetary Fund staff report has cautioned against premature monetary easing under Pakistan’s $7 billion loan program, urging policymakers to remain data-dependent to anchor inflation expectations and rebuild ‌external buffers.