KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate slowed to 4.1% year on year in December, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday, the lowest in more than 6-1/2 years.
The South Asian country is navigating a challenging economic recovery path buttressed by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted in September.
Consumer prices in December rose 0.1% from the month before, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
In its monthly report released last week, the finance ministry said that the annual inflation rate was expected to hold in the range of 4-5% in the final month of the year.
Annual inflation had already slowed to 4.9% in November, largely due to a high base a year earlier, coming in below the government’s forecast and significantly lower than a multi-decade high of around 40 percent in May 2023.
“Inflation has come down on the back of stable currency, lower global commodity prices and improved supply chain,” said Samiullah Tariq, head of research and development at Pak Kuwait Investment Company.
Pakistan’s central bank previously targeted 5-7% inflation in the medium term but its head has said the level is now in sight within the next 12 months.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cut its key policy rate by 200 basis points to 13% in December, the fifth straight reduction since June, to bring cumulative rate cuts for 2024 to 900 basis points and making it one of the most aggressive emerging market central banks in the current easing cycle.
Inflation during the first half of the current fiscal year to end-June 2025 has averaged 7.22% compared to 28.79% in the year-earlier period.
Pakistan’s annual inflation slowed to 4.1% in December
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Pakistan’s annual inflation slowed to 4.1% in December
- Annual inflation already slowed to 4.9% in November, largely due to high base a year earlier
- Inflation slowed due to stable currency, lower global commodity prices, says financial analyst
Pakistan, Jordan agree to enhance cooperation in trade, energy, investment
- Pakistan, Jordan hold inter-ministerial commission meeting in Islamabad to discuss cooperation in several sectors
- Both sides agree to form working group, Jordan-Pakistan Business Council to accelerate trade and investment cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Jordan have agreed to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, banking, energy and other economic sectors, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan said on Thursday.
The understanding was reached between the two sides at a meeting of the Pakistan-Jordan Inter-ministerial Commission in Islamabad on Thursday.
Pakistan enjoys cooperation with Jordan in several sectors including trade, defense and minerals. Jordan was the fifth country to recognize Pakistan after it secured independence in 1947. The two nations established formal diplomatic ties in 1948.
“Areas which cover a very diversified sectoral approach from trade and investment, industrial development, banking and finance, agriculture and livestock, higher education, vocational training, labor, health, climate change, maritime, energy, mineral resources and many more,” Khan said at a news conference with Jordanian Minister of Industry and Trade Yarub Qudah.
The Pakistani minister said it was a “very good opportunity” for both sides to transform their brotherly relations into economic cooperation.
Qudah agreed with Khan, saying it was time for Islamabad and Amman to take their economic and trade relations to “a totally different level.”
“We have also agreed to have a working group that will work this year on different sectors and also the establishment of the Pakistan-Jordan Business Council,” he said.
He invited Khan to Jordan to hold talks on further cooperation, adding that the 11th meeting of the inter-ministerial commission will be held in Jordan next year.
The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Jordan stood at $46.58 million in 2023. Pakistan’s main exports to Jordan include textiles, rice, ethyl alcohol, polymers of styrene, sugar confectionaries, nuts and dried fruits.
Meanwhile, Pakistan mainly imports mineral and chemical fertilizers, ferrous waste and scrap, inorganic acids, chemicals, medicaments and seeds from Jordan.
