PBS Reports 1.29% Inflation in Weekly Prices

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks weekly inflation, rose by 1.29 percent for the combined consumption group during the week ending September 2.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the SPI stood at 335.41 points, up from 331.14 points recorded the previous week. On a year-on-year basis, the index increased by 5.07 percent.

The SPI measures prices across 17 urban centres and 51 essential items, using 2015-16 as the base year. For the lowest income group (up to Rs17,732), inflation rose by 2.01 percent to 327.73 points from last week’s 321.82. Other income groups also saw price hikes ranging from 0.99 to 1.90 percent.

Out of 51 monitored items, prices of 23 items (45.10%) went up, 4 items (7.84%) declined, and 24 items (47.06%) remained unchanged.

Weekly Increases: Tomatoes (46.03%), wheat flour (25.41%), onions (8.57%), rice basmati broken (2.62%), garlic (2.04%), and potatoes (1.38%) saw the steepest hikes.

Weekly Decreases: Bananas (-3.86%), diesel (-0.91%), sugar (-0.13%), and mustard oil (-0.10%) recorded slight declines.

Year-on-Year Trends: Items with sharp annual increases included tomatoes (83.45%), ladies’ sandals (55.62%), wheat flour (30.27%), and sugar (27.43%). Meanwhile, onions (-47.00%), garlic (-25.50%), and potatoes (-19.25%) saw major year-on-year declines.