Pakistan’s consumer price inflation eased to 9.61 percent year-on-year in October 2026, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday, 2 November 2026.
The October reading was down from 10.26 percent in September, marking a second consecutive monthly deceleration after the annual rate reached 11.1 percent in August.
The figure was also within the Ministry of Finance’s projection of 9.5 to 10.5 percent for October, as reported by Dawn and The Nation.
Despite the slowdown, inflation remained higher than a year earlier: the October 2025 rate was 6.25 percent, and average inflation for the first four months of the current fiscal year (July–October) stood at 10.05 percent, compared with 4.79 percent in the same period last year.
Prices still rose month-on-month in October, by about 1.1 percent, compared with 1.3 percent in September — so the easing in the annual rate does not mean prices fell overall.
Food prices rose 2.26 percent month-on-month in October, with chicken up 19.38 percent, gram lentils (daal chana) up 9.17 percent, wheat up 9.01 percent and wheat flour up 7.54 percent, according to the PBS data reported by Dunya News and Daily Pakistan.
Dawn and Business Recorder round the headline figures to 9.6 percent for October and 10.3 percent for September; the precise PBS figures quoted by ProPakistani and Dunya News are 9.61 percent and 10.26 percent.
For households, the key question is whether the slower annual rate will translate into visible relief at the market — the October data shows the pace of price rises easing, but monthly prices still moving up, led by food items.
The PBS release is the latest official snapshot of the cost of living; the next monthly reading will show whether the single-digit rate holds.
Sources: Dawn (3 Nov 2026), Business Recorder (3 Nov 2026), ProPakistani (2 Nov 2026), Dunya News (2 Nov 2026) — all reporting PBS CPI data for October 2026.
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