At 12.7 percent on a year-over-year basis, Pakistan’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up from 12.2 percent in the previous month and 9.1 percent in March 2021, according to statistics from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) issued on Friday. For example, in March 2022, the CPI climbed by 0.8 percent from the previous month’s reading of 1.2pc and by 0.4 percent from the reading of 0.4pc in March 2021. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has had a difficult time dealing with inflation since taking power. An increase in global commodity prices, particularly oil, has coincided with rising inflation and a widening current account deficit. As of February, Pakistan’s current account deficit stood at $12.1 billion, up from a surplus of $994 million in the same eight-month period of the previous fiscal year (July-February of FY22) (FY21). Increased anticipation of increased inflation has caused the rupee to weaken, which has been constantly hitting record lows in recent days. CPI inflation was 11.9pc in urban areas in March 2022, compared to 11.5pc in the previous month and 8.7pc in March 2021, on a year-over-year basis. A 0.7pc increase was recorded in March 2022, as compared to 0.9pc in the month before and 0.3pc in March 2021, month-over-month. As of March 2022, rural CPI inflation had risen by 13.9 percent year-on-year, following a rise of 13.3 percent in the previous month and 9.5 percent in the previous year. It grew by 1.0 percent month-to-month in March 2022, compared to a 1.5 percent increase in the previous month and a 0.5 percent gain in the previous year.