Pakistan's consumer inflation remained in double digits at 11.1% year on year in June 2026, more than three times the 3.2% recorded a year earlier, underscoring a sharp resurgence in price pressures despite a slight decline in the Consumer Price Index during the month. According to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, CPI inflation eased marginally from 11.7% in May but remained substantially above its level in June 2025. The latest reading brought average CPI inflation for fiscal year 2025-26 to 7.05%, compared with 4.49% in the previous fiscal year. The increase points to considerably stronger average price growth over the course of FY26.

The monthly picture was less severe. Consumer prices declined by 0.3% in June from May, reversing a 0.5% increase in the previous month. In June 2025, the index had risen by 0.2% month on month. The divergence between the monthly decline and the elevated annual rate illustrates the contrasting signals in the latest inflation data: prices fell slightly from May levels, but remained markedly higher than they were a year earlier. Urban consumers experienced marginally stronger annual inflation than their rural counterparts.

Urban CPI inflation stood at 11.2% year on year in June, easing from 11.8% in May but well above the 3.0% recorded in June 2025. On a monthly basis, urban prices fell by 0.5%. That compared with an increase of 0.7% in May and a rise of 0.1% in June last year. Rural inflation reached 10.9% year on year, compared with 11.5% in the preceding month and 3.6% in June 2025. Unlike urban areas, rural consumer prices were unchanged from May. The rural index had increased by 0.3% month on month in May and by 0.5% in June 2025. The June figures therefore provide some evidence of easing inflationary momentum at the end of FY26, with the national CPI declining from the previous month and both urban and rural annual rates moderating from May.

But the comparison with a year earlier is considerably less reassuring. National inflation has risen from 3.2% in June 2025 to 11.1% in June 2026, while urban price growth has accelerated from 3.0% to 11.2% and the rural rate from 3.6% to 10.9%. The full-year figures reinforce that contrast. Average inflation of 7.05% in FY26 was 2.56 percentage points higher than the 4.49% recorded during the preceding fiscal year. Pakistan consequently ended FY26 with a curious inflation picture: consumer prices edged lower in its final month and annual inflation eased from May, yet the year-on-year rate remained more than three times its level of June 2025. For consumers, that distinction matters. June brought a modest monthly reprieve, but the PBS figures show that the broader price environment at the end of the fiscal year remained considerably more inflationary than it had been 12 months earlier.