Inflation

Pakistan is scheduled to repay $1 billion against a five-year 'Sukuk '(Shariah-compliant bond) maturing on December 5, The Express Tribune reported.

Though food inflation in October fell to 7.01 per cent from 8.6 per cent in the previous month, prices of meat and egg, milk, vegetables, and cereals rose. Retail inflation in October though was at a three-month low from a five-month high of 7.41 per cent in September.

It was also less compared to 10.70 per cent in September, mainly due to a slide in commodity prices. This was also the first time that the WPI fell below a double-digit mark in 18 months.

In addition, inflation has continued to rise faster than expected. Accelerating and broadening price pressures in the first ten months of the year have moved the expected inflation peak to the fourth quarter of this year, and lifted the yearly inflation rate projection to 9.3 per cent in the EU and 8.5 per cent in the euro area.

About 63 per cent of healthcare and pharmaceutical industry professionals in North America expected a disruption to digitalisation initiatives in their business units due to inflation. The same opinion was expressed by 55 per cent of industry professionals in Europe and 47 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Global Data, a leading data and analytics company.

Emkay Global in a recent sectoral report said the average pan-India cement price increase was about Rs.3-4/bag in October 2022. On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, prices rose by 2-3 per cent in the East and South, and about one per cent in the West; while declining 1-2 per cent in the northern and central regions, the report said.

The observation made in the FAO's Food Price Index issued on Friday was unchanged from September after six consecutive months of decline, reports Xinhua news agency. The grains and cereals sub-index rose by 3 per cent, building on a 2.2 per cent increase a month earlier.

This figure contains "10 billion euros of realized costs for replacement volumes, and roughly 31 billion euros of anticipated future losses from valuation effects on derivatives and provision built-ups related to the Russian gas curtailments as of September 30", the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Treasury yields have been rising after the Fed's latest decision on rates, which rose another 0.75 percentage point. But more notably, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it wasn't time to back off rate increases, though he conceded they may get smaller as the central bank soaks in economic data and studies how well its actions till now have done their job.

The Fed raised interest rates for the sixth time this year. The hike will make it more expensive for consumers and businesses to borrow money. The central bank is boosting rates to curb inflation, which hovers near a 40-year high. But the higher rates risk pushing the economy into a recession. At a news conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed could slow the pace of hikes as soon as next month.