KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Pakistan’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 13.8% in May from a year earlier, the country’s statistics bureau said on Wednesday, the highest pace in over two years.
That compared with a rise of 13.4% in April from a year earlier. The CPI increased 0.4% in May from the previous month.
The inflation figures come days after the government partially eliminated costly fuel subsidies in a bid to unlock much-needed funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan’s central bank said last week that once fuel and power subsidies are eliminated, headline inflation is likely to increase and remain elevated throughout the next fiscal year.
The central bank has already unveiled sharp monetary tightening measures, increasing its main policy rate by 400 basis points in less than two months.
(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam: Editing by Neil Fullick and Sam Holmes)
