ISLAMABAD, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said that average inflation in the country increased by 3.86 percent during the first seven months of the Financial Year 2018 as against the same period of last year.

As per the official data, the inflation rate in the South Asian country expanded by 4.42 percent in the month of January when compared with 4.57 percent in December 2017 and 3.66 percent in January 2017.

On a monthly comparison, the inflation trimmed down by 0.03 percent in January when compared with the figure of previous month, said Director Prices of the PBS Attiq-ur-Rehman at a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday.

He further stated that the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) during the month increased by 1.81 percent while the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) decreased by 1.04 percent.

The CPI-based inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 5.10 percent in January as against the same month of last year.

Moreover, the inflation for non-perishable food items went up 2.85 percent, perishable items by 20.40 percent, clothing and footwear 4.3 percent, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels 4.17 percent, furnishing and household equipment maintenance 4.04 percent, health 4.04 percent, and CPI inflation for transport increased by 5.68 percent.

Similarly, the CPI-based inflation for communication swelled by 1.26 percent, recreation and culture by 0.88 percent, education by 12.40 percent, restaurant and hotel 6.69 percent while the CPI for miscellaneous goods and service expanded by 7.17 percent, he added.

Meanwhile, the trimmed core inflation during January 2018 moved up by 4.6 percent compared to January 2017 while the non-food and non-energy core inflation gained 5.2 percent in January 2018 as compared to January 2017.

The PBS collects retail and wholesale prices and computes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and WPI on monthly basis while the SPI is calculated on weekly basis.