The National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) was informed here on Friday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which shows the general price trend in the country, decreased and recorded at 10.1% during last month.
The NPMC, which met Secretary Finance Abdul Wajid Rana in the chair, was also informed that food and non-food inflation was recorded at 9.3% and 10.6% respectively, while Wholesale Price Index and Sensitive Price Index stood at 8.7% and 6.8% respectively.
The monthly meeting, which was also attended by the representatives of provincial departments and federal ministries / agencies concerned,
reviewed the price and supply situation of 28 selected items of daily need in January.
It was told that out of 53, prices of 16 items increased, of 11 decreased and of 26 items remained unchanged.
An increase in the prices of wheat, Rice Irri 6, vegetable ghee (loose), milk fresh, onion, beef, mutton, eggs, chicken and L.P.G was noted, while prices of sugar, potatoes, red chilly powder, tomato, garlic, gram pulse, masoor pulse and Rice Basmati (broken) etc. decreased.
Global trend of the prices of commodities during the month under review showed a mixed trend as compared to January 2010, such as sugar prices decrease by 20.4%, palm oil deceased by 17%, wheat 15.8%, tea 12.4%, DAP 11% and Urea 1.5% whereas prices of crude oil increased by 15.4% and rice 27.8%.
Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector posted a growth of 0.83% during July-December 2011, as compared to negative growth of 1.8% in the corresponding period of last year.
An increase in the production of pharmaceutical items, leather products, food & beverages, tobacco, non-metallic mineral products, paper & board and textile was noted while that of iron & steel, rubber products, automobiles and chemicals decreased.
The exports during the period July-January 2011-12 were recorded at US$ 14.10 billion as compared to $ 13.15 billion during the same period last year, which shows an increase of 7.2%.
The exports of textile items, food items and manufactured items have been increased.
Imports during the period July-January 2011-12 recorded at $23.16 billion as compared to US $ 19.68 billion during the same period of last year.
The major group of import remained petroleum, transport, agriculture and other chemicals and metals.
The workers' remittances during July-January 2011-12 recorded at $ 7.436 billion as against $ 6.118 billion in the corresponding period of last year showing an increase of 21.5 percent.
The remittances from Saudi Arabia recorded a massive growth of 48.4 percent, followed by the UK 27.4 percent, other GCC countries 17.2 percent, USA 15.9 percent and UAE 14.4 percent during the period under review.
Average monthly remittances during July-January 2011-12 stood at $ 1062.3 million as compared to $ 874.0 million during the corresponding period of last year.
The FBR tax collections during July-January 2011-12 stood at Rs 970.8 billion as compared to Rs 770.1 billion in the same period last year showing an increase of 26.1%.