Pakistan inflation slows to 23.8 pc in November

ISLAMABAD Pakistan's consumer price inflation slowed to 23.8 per cent in November from 26.6 per cent a month earlier, the statistics bureau said on Thursday, after the central bank unexpectedly hiked policy rates.

The Bureau said in November that prices were up 0.8 per cent from the previous month.

In November of the year, the bureau added that Core Inflation for rural and urban areas, measured by non-food, non-energy, increased to 14.6 per cent and 18.5 per cent.

In its monthly outlook released earlier this week, Pakistan's finance ministry said that inflation would decline marginally in November, while staying within a range of 23 per cent -- 25 per cent.

On November 25, the central bank hiked its policy rate by 100 basis points to 16 per cent, the highest in several years, as it tried to prevent inflation from becoming entrenched.

South Asian nation, which is reeling from the devastating floods that are estimated to have caused $30 billion of damage, is facing a balance of payments crisis, with rapidly depleting foreign reserves and a widening current account deficit.

With reserves down to hardly one month of imports, Pakistan desperately needs bilateral and multilateral external funding as it awaits the 9th review of a $7 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund IMF pending since September.

Both Pakistan and the IMF said last week that pre-review talks had begun online.

The IMF approved the seventh and eighth reviews together in August for the bailout programme agreed in 2019 to allow the release of over $1.1 billion.

The lender wants Pakistan to cut expenditure and that the finalization of a recovery plan from the floods is essential to support discussions and continued financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners.

This week, Pakistan sought help from the Bank of China for macroeconomic stability.