In September 2023, the year-on-year headline inflation rate surged to 31.4%, a significant increase from the 23.2% recorded during the same period the previous year. This uptick in inflation was a noticeable jump from the 27.4% year-on-year rate seen in the prior month. The primary drivers of this inflationary surge encompassed various categories, such as food (33.1% year-on-year), transportation (31.3% year-on-year), housing (29.7% year-on-year), restaurants (34.3% year-on-year), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (87.5% year-on-year), household equipment (39.3% year-on-year), miscellaneous items (36.4% year-on-year), recreation and culture (58.8% year-on-year), and clothing and footwear (20.6% year-on-year). Consequently, the three-month average headline inflation for the fiscal year 2023 reached 29.0%, up from the 25.11% recorded in the corresponding period the previous year.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation increased by 2.0%, largely driven by rising costs in petroleum and liquefied hydrocarbon products, food items, construction materials, and medical and dental services. Notable monthly increases were observed in transportation (+9.1%) due to domestic petroleum price hikes and higher liquefied hydrocarbon product prices, as well as food (+1.6%) attributed to elevated prices for items like fresh vegetables, onions, pulses, sugar, gur, and spices.
Core inflation also exhibited an increase, reaching an average of 22.1% year-on-year, up from the previous month’s average of 21.4%. Urban core inflation in September 2023 rose by 18.6% year-on-year, while rural core inflation increased by 27.3% year-on-year. On a monthly basis, urban and rural core inflation increased by 1.0% and 2.6%, respectively.
| Weight | Sep-23 | Sep-22 | YoY | Aug-23 | MoM | |
| CPI | 244.1 | 185.7 | 31.4% | 239.3 | 2.0% | |
| Food | 34.6% | 278.5 | 209.2 | 33.1% | 274.0 | 1.6% |
| Housing | 23.6% | 194.9 | 150.2 | 29.7% | 193.9 | 0.5% |
| Clothing & Footwear | 8.6% | 213.1 | 176.7 | 20.6% | 208.7 | 2.1% |
| Restaurants & Hotels | 6.9% | 252.5 | 188.0 | 34.3% | 246.5 | 2.4% |
| Transport | 5.9% | 328.1 | 250.0 | 31.3% | 300.7 | 9.1% |
| Miscellaneous | 4.9% | 262.9 | 192.7 | 36.4% | 261.5 | 0.5% |
| House Hold Equipment | 4.1% | 252.7 | 181.4 | 39.3% | 248.5 | 1.7% |
| Education | 3.8% | 179.3 | 161.3 | 11.1% | 178.2 | 0.6% |
| Health | 2.8% | 222.3 | 177.5 | 25.3% | 212.8 | 4.5% |
| Communication | 2.2% | 119.7 | 111.4 | 7.4% | 119.1 | 0.4% |
| Recreation & Culture | 1.6% | 254.8 | 160.5 | 58.8% | 253.8 | 0.4% |
| Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco | 1.0% | 361.2 | 192.7 | 87.5% | 359.5 | 0.5% |
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