Weekly inflation rises to 15.15pc YoY

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s weekly inflation slightly rose to 15.15 per cent year-on-year for the week ending October 24, up from 15.02 per cent the previous week, official data revealed.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks short-term price changes for essential items, indicated a 0.22 per cent week-on-week decrease, despite annualised inflation inching up.

The SPI monitors 51 key items in 50 markets across 17 cities, noting that prices for 13 items increased, 10 decreased, and 28 remained steady compared with the prior week. Among items seeing price drops were chicken, down 7.12 per cent, onions by 5.07 per cent, and gur by 2.07 per cent. Wheat flour declined 1.16 per cent, mash pulse 1.14 per cent, sugar 0.77 per cent, gram pulse 0.64 per cent, and rice basmati broken 0.58 per cent.

In contrast, the cost of potatoes climbed 3.33 per cent, garlic 2.97 per cent, and moong pulse 2.84 per cent. Eggs rose by 2.02 per cent, bananas by 0.75 per cent, tomatoes by 0.48 per cent, with vegetable ghee increasing by 0.36 per cent and firewood by 0.3 per cent.

PBS data highlighted that inflation affected income groups differently. Households earning less than Rs17,732 per month saw a 0.18 per cent weekly decline in prices, while higher-income groups, those earning above Rs44,175, experienced a 0.21 per cent decrease. However, year-on-year inflation climbed by 10.36 per cent for the lowest income earners and 13.9 per cent for the highest income earners.

Certain commodities registered significant price hikes compared to last year with gas prices for the lowest consumer slab surging by a staggering 570 per cent. Prices for gram pulse rose by 83 per cent, onions by 50 per cent, chicken by 39 per cent, moong pulse by 37 per cent, and powdered milk by 25 per cent. Beef prices jumped 23 per cent, shirting 17 per cent, and garlic 15 per cent, while georgette fabric and ladies’ sandals each saw a 13 per cent increase.

Meanwhile, some essential items showed notable decreases over the year. Wheat flour prices dropped by 32 per cent, while electricity charges for the lowest slab and powdered chilies each declined by 20 per cent. Diesel prices fell by 17 per cent, petrol by 13 per cent, cooking oil by 10 per cent, basmati broken rice by 8.0 per cent, with sugar, eggs, bread, and vegetable ghee all falling by 5.0 per cent.