Pakistan’s weekly inflation dips slightly amid lower fuel and onion prices

Pakistan’s weekly inflation, as measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), registered a slight decline of 0.16 per cent for the combined consumption groups during the week ending on August 15, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The SPI for the period under review stood at 322.03 points, down from 322.54 points the previous week. However, compared to the corresponding week last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group saw a significant increase of 16.86 per cent.

The SPI, with the base year set at 2015-16, covers 17 urban centres and tracks 51 essential items across all expenditure groups.

For the lowest consumption group, with a monthly expenditure of up to Rs17,732, the SPI witnessed a marginal increase of 0.07 per cent, rising to 311.04 points from 310.83 points in the previous week.

Similarly, the SPI for the Rs 17,732-22,888 consumption group saw a minimal rise of 0.01 per cent. In contrast, for consumption groups with expenditures ranging from Rs22,889-29,517, Rs29,518-44,175, and above Rs44,175, the SPI declined by 0.05 per cent, 0.10 per cent, and 0.25 per cent, respectively.

Out of the 51 items monitored during the week, the prices of 19 items (37.25 per cent) increased, 13 items (25.50 per cent) decreased, while the remaining 19 items (37.25 per cent) remained stable.

The key items that saw a decrease in average prices on a week-on-week basis included onions (4.91 per cent), petrol (3.15 per cent), diesel (2.44 per cent), wheat flour (1.83 per cent), pulse moong (1.81 per cent), chicken (1.57 per cent), bananas (1.36 per cent), LPG (0.90 per cent), sugar (0.59 per cent), potatoes (0.58 per cent), and pulse masoor (0.56 per cent).

Conversely, items that recorded an increase in their average prices included tomatoes (34.77 per cent), eggs (4.78 per cent), garlic (1.99 per cent), beef (0.88 per cent), cooked beef (0.41 per cent), georgette (0.40 per cent), gur (0.39 per cent), curd (0.32 per cent), and mustard oil (0.28 per cent).