No, food inflation has not risen to 20 percent in Pakistan
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on January 22, 2019 at 04:00
- Updated on January 29, 2019 at 03:03
- 2 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
This online report by Pakistani broadcaster Dunya News TV says: “20 percent inflation on basic food basket has unfolded miserable consequences for public.”
The report says: “the ‘exponential’ increase in prices of basic kitchen items up to 20 percent has pulled severe consequences for the general public.”
The report does not give a source for its figures.
The report also says that the Pakistani government is set to propose a new budget on January 23, 2019 which it claims will impose new taxes on basic food items, which will likely cause further inflation.
The report was run by other news outlets including the Balochistan Express here and the Frontier Post here.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics issued a report on inflation in December 2018.
Food inflation in June 2018 was 3.0 percent and in December 2018 it was 0.9 percent, according to the report.
Here is a screenshot of the table from the above report. AFP has marked the relevant months and figures.
According to the Asian Development Bank, overall inflation was 3.9 percent in Pakistan in 2018.
The Pakistan Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar tweeted that the story was fake and said that food inflation had declined in Pakistan.
"Fake news alert. Food inflation fell from 3% in June 2018 to 0.9% in Dec 2018," Azhar said.
Fake news alert. Food inflation fell from 3 % in June 2018 to 0.9% in Dec 2018. (Source SBP) https://t.co/d7utdkq215
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) January 13, 2019
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
