Weekly Inflation in Pakistan Sees Slight Drop

Pakistan’s weekly inflation slightly declined by 0.03 percent for the combined consumption group in the week ending December 11.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported the SPI fell to 335.73 points from 335.84, while yearly inflation increased by 3.90 percent.

The SPI, with base year 2015-16 = 100, covers 17 urban centres and tracks 51 essential items across all expenditure groups.

For the lowest consumption group, spending up to Rs17,732, the SPI decreased by 0.26 percent, reaching 326.84 points from 327.70 points.

Other groups saw small changes: Rs17,733–22,888 fell 0.17%, Rs22,889–29,517 dropped 0.09%, Rs29,518–44,175 declined 0.04%, while above Rs44,175 rose 0.02%.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 12 items (23.53 percent) rose, 10 items (19.61 percent) fell, and 29 items (56.86 percent) remained stable.

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Commodities showing week-on-week decreases included tomatoes (16.18%), sugar (4.91%), onions (4.08%), potatoes (1.71%), bananas (1.01%), and pulses.

Items that increased included chicken (6.19%), wheat flour (2.88%), eggs (0.93%), cooking oil 5 litre (0.72%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.70%), tea prepared (0.56%), and powdered milk (0.39%).

Year-on-year, the highest price increases were in sugar (30.28%), Q1 gas charges (29.85%), wheat flour (21.59%), gur (14.96%), beef (13.42%), and firewood (12.86%).

Yearly declines included potatoes (42.59%), tomatoes (40.75%), garlic (37.46%), onions (30.23%), pulse gram (28.95%), tea packet (17.79%), pulse mash (13.33%), electricity charges Q1 (8.40%), and salt powder (5.08%).

The weekly and yearly SPI figures reflect minor weekly fluctuations amid ongoing significant price changes for essential commodities across Pakistan.