Pakistan inflation rises to 48-year high of 27.55%

KARACHI: Inflation has risen to a 48-year high in crisis-hit Pakistan, where the International Monetary Fund is visiting for urgent talks, according to data released on Wednesday by the country’s statistics bureau.

Inflation in January was recorded at 27.55 percent, the highest since May 1975, with thousands of containers of imports held up at Karachi port.

The country’s economy is in dire straits, stricken by a balance of payments crisis while it attempts to service high amounts of external debt.

The world’s fifth-biggest population has less than $3.7 billion in the state bank — enough to cover just three weeks of imports.

On Tuesday, an IMF delegation arrived in Islamabad to revive negotiations over a stalled bailout package with the government, which has so far held out from meeting the global lender’s tough conditions.