KARACHI: Pakistan’s inflation rate, driven by energy and food prices, peaked to a two-year high of 13 percent in January, the country’s statistics bureau said on Tuesday, with analysts pointing to its financial implications for the poor.
The inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 13 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in January 2022 as compared to an increase of 12.3 percent in the previous month and 5.7 percent in January 2021. Inflation was previously recorded at its highest 14.6 percent in January 2020.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation increased by 0.4 percent in January as compared to a decrease of 0.02 percent in the previous month as well as in January 2021, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Prices of food products, such as cooking oil increased by 54.33 percent, vegetable ghee 47.4 percent, mustard oil 46.68 percent and pulse masoor 41.3 percent, when compared with the corresponding month of the previous year, i.e. January 2021.
“Food inflation was the highest recorded since April 2021 when it rose to 15.9 percent. We attribute this to higher transportation cost and higher global food & commodity prices,” a report by Karachi-based brokerage house Topline Securities said.
Housing, water, electricity and fuel index, which contribute around 24 percent weightage to the CPI, rose by 15.5 percent in January 2022, compared to an increase of 16.6 percent in December 2021.
The price of electricity increased by 56.20 percent, liquefied hydrocarbons by 53.35 percent and motor fuel by 36.22 percent, when compared with the same period of last year.
The inflation rate was 128 percent higher than the previous year’s 5.7 percent, mainly due to the global impact of commodity prices, including food and energy products, and oil and gas, in the international market.
Analysts point to financial implications of higher inflation for the poor class, which has already been under immense pressure.
“Poor and lower middle class will remain under stress due to high inflation,” Muhammad Sohail, the Topline Securities chief executive officer, told Arab News.
“With rising oil prices and expected increase in power tariffs, we anticipate monthly CPI inflation to remain in the range of 11-13 percent during the remainder of FY22.”
The government expects the inflationary trend to continue to remain in double digits in the coming months.
“The central bank in its monetary policy had said that inflation for the next three months is likely to remain elevated but improved balance-of-payment numbers will determine central bank’s next move for policy rate changes,” Samiullah Tariq, research director at the Pakistan-Kuwait Investment Company, told Arab News.
This week, Pakistan is expecting the revival of $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program. It would make available $1,059 million that would bring total disbursements to Pakistan to about $3,027 million and help unlock significant funding from bilateral and multilateral partners.
“Going forward, IMF stability program and global oil prices will remain important for Pakistan,” Sohail said.
The Pakistani central bank has forecasted that the inflation rate for the current fiscal year would range between 9 percent and 11 percent.
Pakistan’s annual inflation rose to two-year high in January
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Pakistan’s annual inflation rose to two-year high in January
- Food and energy prices contributed to the hike amid rising international commodity prices and transportation costs
- Electricity price increased 56.20 percent, liquefied hydrocarbons 53.35 percent as compared to last year, official stats show
Sifting through the rubble of latest Pakistan-India conflict
- Clearance teams are combing through fields for unexploded shells so residents can safely build back from rubble of their homes
- Unexploded ordnance dating from conflicts past killed several children in 2021 and 2022 in Azad Kashmir
NEELUM VALLEY, Pakistan: Two weeks after Pakistan and India’s most intense military clashes in decades, clearance teams along the border comb through fields for unexploded shells so residents can safely build back from the rubble of their homes.
Around 70 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed in the four-day conflict that spread beyond divided Kashmir, over which the neighbors have fought three major wars.
The military confrontation — involving intense tit-for-tat drone, missile, aerial combat and artillery exchanges — came to an abrupt end after US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire, which is still holding.
On the Pakistan side of Kashmir, called Azad Kashmir, 500 buildings were damaged or destroyed, including nearly 50 in the picturesque Neelum Valley, where two people were killed.
“There is a possibility that there are unexploded shells still embedded in the ground,” said local official Muhammad Kamran, who has been helping clear educational institutions near the border.
Unexploded ordnance dating from conflicts past killed several children in 2021 and 2022 in Azad Kashmir.
Headmaster Muhammad Zubair follows a mine detector into a classroom of his high school in the valley where a writing on a whiteboard standing in the debris reads “we are brave” in English.
“Although the fighting has stopped, people still hold so much fear and anxiety,” he told AFP.
“Despite calling them back to school, children are not showing up.”
Abdul Rasheed, a power department official, said he worked “day and night” to repair power lines damaged by Indian firing.
Over the years, investment in roads has helped to create a modest tourism sector in the Neelum Valley, attracting Pakistanis who come to marvel at the Himalayan mountains.
Hotels reopened on Monday, but they remain deserted in the middle of peak season.
Alif Jan, 76, who has lived through multiple clashes between the two sides, is yet to call her grandchildren back to her border village after sending them away during the latest hostilities.
“It was a very difficult time. It was like doomsday had arrived,” she said.
The children were sent to Azad Kashmir’s main city of Muzaffarabad, usually safe but this time targeted with an Indian air strike.
Jan wants to be certain the fighting doesn’t resume and that she has enough to feed them before they eventually return.
In a schoolyard, she collects a 20-kilogram (45-pound) bag of flour, a can of oil, and some medicine from a local NGO.
Thousands of other families are still waiting to be relocated or compensated for damage.
“We have identified 5,000 families,” said Fawad Aslam, the program manager of local aid group.
“Our first priority is families who suffered direct damage, while the second priority is those who were forced to migrate — people who had to leave their homes and are now living in camps or temporary shelters.”
For 25-year-old Numan Butt whose brother was killed by shrapnel, the aid is little consolation.
“This conflict keeps coming upon us; this oppression is ongoing,” he told AFP.
“It is a good thing that they have agreed to peace, but the brother I have lost will never come back.”
Pakistan will not get water over which India has rights, India PM Modi says
- India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty last month after a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Pakistan has denied involvement and this month engaged in the worst military confrontation with India in decades
NEW DELHI: Pakistan will not get water from rivers over which India has rights, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, a month after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir led New Delhi to suspend a key river water-sharing treaty between the neighbors.
The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, negotiated by the World Bank in 1960, was among a slew of measures announced by India against Pakistan last month after the April 22 attack that killed 26 men, mostly Hindu tourists.
New Delhi had said the attack was backed by Pakistan – an accusation Islamabad denied – and the nuclear-armed neighbors were involved in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10.
“Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack ... Pakistan’s army will pay it, Pakistan’s economy will pay it,” Modi said at a public event in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan.
The Indus treaty provides water for 80 percent of Pakistan’s farms from three rivers that flow from India but Pakistan’s finance minister said this month that its suspension was not going to have “any immediate impact.”
The ceasefire between the countries has largely held, with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar saying that there is no exchange of fire currently and “there has been some repositioning of forces accordingly.”
“If there are acts of the kind we saw on April 22, there will be a response, we will hit the terrorists,” Jaishankar told Dutch news outlet NOS.
“If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are,” he added.
There was no immediate response from Pakistan to comments by Modi and Jaishankar.
India and Pakistan have shared a troubled relationship since they were carved out of British India in 1947, and have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
New Delhi also blames Pakistan for supporting Islamist separatists battling security forces in its part of Kashmir, but Islamabad denies the accusation.
The arch rivals have taken several measures against each other since the April attack in Kashmir, including suspension of trade, closure of land borders, and suspension of most visas.
Pakistan’s award-winning Loralai Olives eyes exports to US, Japan, Gulf markets
- Khaity Technologies owns Loralai Olives which recently won silver for olive oil quality at New York International Olive Oil Competition
- Pakistan had potential to export $2 billion worth of olive oil if it can grow 10 million fruiting trees across Pakistan in next five years
KARACHI: A Pakistani olive oil firm is eyeing the US, Gulf and Japanese markets for exports as world leaders Italy and Spain see a decline in production, creating space for new entrants, the chief executive officer of the company said in an interview this week.
Khaity Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd., is a top AI-powered agriculture app that owns Loralai Olives (LO), named after an olive-producing district in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. In recent weeks, LO has received global recognition by securing silver for olive oil quality at the 2025 New York International Olive Oil Competition.
Olive production is beneficial for Pakistan due to its potential to reduce the country’s reliance on imported edible oils, create jobs, and promote sustainable agriculture. Additionally, it can boost the economy by establishing a new export market and fostering entrepreneurship. Olive trees are hardy and can thrive in various conditions, including water-stressed areas, making them an environmentally sustainable crop.
“We will be doing some exports when Pakistan starts harvesting olive crop this year in October- November,” Shaukat Rasool, the CEO of Khaity Technologies, told Arab News in a telephone interview, saying Pakistan had the potential to export as much as $2 billion worth of olive oil if it could grow 10 million fruiting trees across Pakistan in the next five years.
“The GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] can be a big market for us as they too import a big chunk of olive oil,” said Rasool, adding that the US and Japan were key export markets to tap.
The olive production decline in Italy and Spain is largely due to the impacts of climate change, including prolonged droughts and increased heat, which negatively affect olive tree growth and yields.
With depleting production in the two leading manufacturing countries and space for new entrants in the market, Pakistan needed to look to tap the $15 billion olive oil exports market, Rasool said.
“Their [Italy and Spain] production is decreasing, leading to a price hike that is forcing their global customers to look for a substitute to fill this gap,” said Rasool, who has set an annual target for his company to export more than 200 tons of Pakistani olive oil in the next five years.
“Pakistan can fill that gap and produce as much olive oil as Italy and Spain are producing.”
Pakistan’s olive oil production is already experiencing a boom, with the country aiming to produce 4,600 tons by 2030. While currently producing around 861 tons of table olives annually, Pakistan has the potential to become a major olive oil producer, with 10 million acres of land suitable for cultivation, almost twice the area of Spain. Production had increased from 90 kilograms in 2019 to over two tons in 2022 and 2023 in the Hazara region alone.
SUPPORTIVE ECOSYSTEM
Rasool, whose company employs 60 people, launched the LO brand last year after harvesting his first olive crop at orchards spread over 50 hectares in the Chakri village of Rawalpindi as well as what his company collected from farmers in the Loralai district of Balochistan.
“This year we have extracted around 10 tons of olive oil while next year our target is to scale this up to 25 to 30 tons,” he said.
Increased local production will save most-needed forex reserves for Pakistan which last year had to spend $2.9 billion on the import of palm and soya bean oil for domestic consumption, according to official data. This year through April, the country’s imports surged as much as 140 percent to $3.2 billion.
Pakistan is also seeking to promote drought-resistant crops like olives that can live for a thousand years without consuming much water, said Rasool.
Pakistan has collaborated in the past with Italy, the world’s biggest olive producer, to develop its olive sector and has so far grown as much as six million trees in the Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
“The government has identified more than 95 districts across Pakistan for cultivating olive,” said Rasool.
While Khaity Technologies is currently selling its olive oil nationwide through Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms, the firm is hoping to secure as much as $1 million in investment from local and international partners to set up an extraction plant at the site of its olive farm in Rawalpindi.
“Extraction mills must be set up inside the olive farms because the quality of oil is time-bound in terms of extraction,” Rasool explained.
Pakistan currently has three extraction plants, two set up by the government and one by a private party, in Loralai, which have a 600 kilograms per hour crushing capacity. LO uses a government extraction plant to extract olive oil within six to eight hours of harvesting.
To produce the best quality olive oil, the fruit must be harvested and milled for the extraction of oil within 10 hours, Rasool explained.
In Loralai, the government has established a mill with a capacity to crush 600 kilograms of olive fruit in an hour, helping farmers extract oil within six to eight hours of harvesting.
“Next time, maybe we can win gold if we could be able to bring down our milling time to three to four hours,” Rasool said.
“There should be an ecosystem that addresses the entire olive oil supply chain ranging from harvesting to extraction and storage.”
Pakistan conducts trainings for Hajj support staff to assist pilgrims at Mashair sites
- This year, Pakistan has employed 561 Hajj support staff known as Moavineen
- Nearly 112,620 Pakistanis are set to perform the annual pilgrimage in June 2025
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hajj Mission (PHM) is conducting trainings for Hajj support staff from May 3-27 to orient them with knowledge of routes, accommodations and responsibilities related to assisting pilgrims as they visit sacred sites for the annual pilgrimage in Makkah, state news agency APP reported on Thursday.
This year, Pakistan has employed 561 Hajj support staff, known as Moavineen, to assist nearly 112,620 Pakistanis set to perform the annual pilgrimage, which will fall in the first week of June.
“Over 430 Moavineen currently serving in the transport, accommodation and food departments have been oriented so far on how to assist Pakistani intending pilgrims in Mashair during the Hajj days,” APP reported, quoting Deputy Coordinator Operation Sadaqat Ali as saying.
Mashair refers to sacred sites in Makkah where pilgrims visit or perform Hajj rituals, including Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah.
Pakistani pilgrims have been assigned 34 maktabs, numbered from 101 to 134, in Mina, while 17 maktabs are located on roads 56 and 62. The remaining are situated on road 511, the report said. The term maktab in the context of Hajj refers to an administrative office or center that provides pilgrims with essential services during their stay in Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah.
Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf has also recently reviewed the transport, accommodation, and catering arrangements for pilgrims, APP added.
For the first time, Pakistani Hajj pilgrims will have access to fully air-conditioned camps in Mina and will be accommodated in top-of-the-line hotels and buildings in the Azizia and Batha Quraish neighborhoods.
Over 35,000 pilgrims have reached Saudi Arabia so far to attend the pilgrimage, according to Pakistani state media.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan invites ‘establishment’ for talks, denies deal for his release
- Khan has been in jail since August 2023 in a slew of cases he says are politically motivated
- Establishment is euphemism to mean Pakistan army and associated pro-military entities
ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has denied reports a deal has been made for his release from prison, once again inviting the “establishment” for talks in the interest of Pakistan as it faces external and internal security threats and treads a tricky path to economic recovery.
In Pakistan, the establishment is a euphemism to describe the armed forces and intelligence agencies and associated pro-military entities.
The military has ruled Pakistan for at least three decades since independence in 1947 and wields extraordinary influence even with a civilian government in office. The current army chief, General Syed Asim Munir, promoted this week to field marshal, only the second general in Pakistan to get the rank, is widely believed to have considerable sway over government affairs. The military says it does not interfere in politics.
“The rumors that are being spread about a deal with me, no deal has been made, nor are there any talks regarding a deal, are all lies,” Khan said in a message posted on his X account after he met his lawyers and family members on Wednesday.
“I myself am inviting the establishment that if they want to talk in the interest of Pakistan, if they are concerned about Pakistan, then come and talk,” he added, saying political forces in the country would have to come together at a time when Pakistan faced “external threats, growing terrorism, and the restoration of the economy.”
“I was not asking for anything for myself before, nor will I ask for anything now,” Khan said, referring to reports he was trying to negotiate a deal to get out of prison.
After being jailed in August 2023 and slapped with a slew of cases Khan says are politically motivated, a Pakistani court sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment in a land corruption case in January. Before that, he had either been acquitted or his sentences suspended in most other cases, except for one on charges of inciting supporters to rampage through military facilities to protest against his arrest on May 9, 2023. Khan denies giving the instructions for the protests.
His supporters have led several violent protest rallies since the May 9 incidents, with the government and military publicly vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice. The protests were widely seen as the most serious challenge to the military’s hegemony in years.
The army has since also faced sharp domestic criticism over accusations it was behind the jailing of Khan and cracking down on supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, as well as what critics alleged was rigging the general election last year to favor a rival party. The army rejects the accusations.
But the military’s popular support has surged after the worst military conflict in decades with arch-rival India earlier this month. On May 7, the Indian military carried out air strikes on what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan, in response to a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan claimed to have downed at least 5-6 Indian fighter jets in response and carried out air strikes on Indian military bases. India has indicated that it suffered some losses and inflicted damage on key Pakistani air bases and air defense systems.
A ceasefire was brokered by the US on May 10.
– With inputs from Reuters
