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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s food consumer price inflation was 45.1 percent in February 2023 year-on-year – the highest in South Asia after Sri Lanka’s 54.4 percent, the World Bank says.
The bank said in its latest “Food Security Update” that in South Asia, domestic cereal and wheat prices were volatile in early 2023 and well above last year’s levels. In Pakistan, wheat prices reached record highs in January 2023 and were 20 to 140 percent higher year-on-year.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) attributes the high prices to a general stagnation in production since 2018, supply losses and disrupted trade flows due to the 2022 floods, high agricultural input and transport costs and high inflation.
In February, the consumer price index increases by 31.5 pc, the highest rate in almost 50 years
The report found that in January 2023, year-on-year consumer price inflation for food prices was 6.2 percent in India, 7.8 percent in Bangladesh and 5.6 percent in Nepal.
The report noted that rice production in 2022 increased thanks to increases in several countries, including India, despite declines in Pakistan and Tanzania.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture also forecasts a 4.5 percent decline in rice shipments as declines in exports from Pakistan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam should more than offset increases from India. Domestic inflation remains high around the world.
Data from the last month between October 2022 and February 2023 for which food inflation data is available shows high inflation in almost all low-income countries, with inflation above five percent in 94.1 percent of low-income countries, 86 percent. middle-income countries and 87 percent of middle-income countries, and many are experiencing double-digit inflation.
In addition, about 87.3 percent of high-income countries live with high food inflation. The most affected countries are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, the report says.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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