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Pakistan’s national consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.6% year over year in September 2025, up from 3.0% in August but below 6.9% in September 2024. Prices also rose 2.0% from August to September, reversing the previous month’s 0.6% decline. These are two different comparisons: 5.6% is the annual rate, not the monthly increase. The figures describe September 2025, not Pakistan’s latest inflation rate.
What did Pakistan’s 5.6% inflation figure measure?
The State Bank of Pakistan’s September 2025 Inflation Monitor reports national CPI inflation of 5.6% year over year. Year over year means comparing prices with the same month a year earlier. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics says the CPI measures price changes against both the previous month and the corresponding month of the preceding year, and publishes national, urban, and rural indices (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics).
The 2.0% figure is the month-over-month change: it compares September prices with August prices. In August, the national CPI had fallen 0.6% month over month. So the September data show both a faster annual inflation rate than in August and a monthly rise in the price index.
How did urban and rural inflation compare?
| Measure, September 2025 | National | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year-over-year CPI inflation | 5.6% | 5.5% | 5.8% |
| Month-over-month CPI change | 2.0% | 1.5% | 2.8% |
| Year-over-year core inflation, excluding food and energy | not stated (State Bank of Pakistan) | 7.0% | 7.8% |
The rural annual headline rate was slightly higher than the urban rate, and the rural monthly increase was larger. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was higher than headline CPI in both areas. These measures describe different baskets, so they should not be treated as interchangeable.
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Which categories had the highest reported inflation?
The Ministry of Finance’s October 2025 update gives the following September year-over-year category rates. These are changes within categories, not their contributions to the overall CPI movement.
| Category | Year-over-year rate |
|---|---|
| Education | 10.7% |
| Health | 10.6% |
| Clothing and footwear | 8.0% |
| Non-perishable food | 6.5% |
| Restaurants and hotels | 6.1% |
| Transport | 4.2% |
| Furnishings and household equipment maintenance | 4.1% |
| Housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels | 3.7% |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 3.4% |
| Communication | 0.4% |
| Perishable food items | -3.7% |
| Recreation and culture | -2.7% |
A high category inflation rate does not, by itself, show that the category drove the headline figure most. A category’s rate and its weight in the CPI basket are different inputs; the figures above do not establish contribution weights.
Food prices in contemporaneous reporting
Dawn reported that selected urban food items, including tomatoes, wheat, wheat flour, and onions, had sizeable month-over-month price increases. It also reported food inflation of 4.4% in urban areas and 6.0% in rural areas. Those food figures and item movements are separate from the national headline CPI rate and the Finance Ministry’s category rates.
How does the September rate compare with the fiscal-quarter average?
Average inflation for July–September FY2026 was 4.2%, compared with 9.2% for the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Finance’s October 2025 Monthly Economic Update & Outlook. This is an average over three months; it is not the September year-over-year rate of 5.6%.
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No. It is a historical reading for September 2025. A later Pakistan Bureau of Statistics release reported year-over-year CPI inflation of 10.3% in September 2026. The 5.6% figure should therefore be cited with its month and year, rather than presented as the latest rate.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does a rise in the inflation rate mean for household budgets?
The annual rate moving from 3.0% to 5.6% means the CPI price level was rising faster compared with a year earlier; it does not mean prices rose by 5.6% during September alone. The 2.0% monthly increase gives the September-to-August comparison. Likewise, a category with a negative annual rate indicates that its measured prices were lower than a year earlier, not that the entire CPI basket fell.
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