Weekly inflation falls 0.15pc

KARACHI: Pakistan’s weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), decreased by 0.15 per cent for the week ending March 27, compared to the same week a year ago, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

The SPI, which tracks the cost of essential goods across 17 cities, also registered a 1.26 per cent decrease year-on-year (YoY). Of the 51 monitored items, the prices of 10 items rose, 10 declined, and 31 remained unchanged.

During the past week, notable price decreases were observed in onions, which fell by 4.68 per cent, followed by bananas (4.27 per cent), eggs (3.87 per cent), potatoes (1.47 per cent), chicken (1.29 per cent), sugar (0.94 per cent) and pulse gram (0.67 per cent).

Some items, however, recorded an increase in prices. Tomatoes became 9.62 per cent expensive, while LPG surge by 1.17 per cent, lawn printed by 0.62 per cent, pulse mash by 0.56 per cent, gur by 0.51 per cent, beef by 0.3 per cent, long cloth by 0.29 per cent; pulse masoor (0.2 per cent), mustard oil by 0.13 per cent and vegetable ghee by 0.10 per cent over the previous week.

Despite recent fluctuations, several essential items have seen significant price hikes over the past year. Ladies sandal prices surged by 75.09 per cent, pulse moong (27.22 per cent), powdered milk (25.75 per cent), beef (21.37 per cent), sugar (18.12 per cent), pulse gram (17.71 per cent), vegetable ghee 1 kg (16.36 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (15.66 per cent), lawn printed (12.97 per cent), cooked daal (12.77 per cent), shirting (11.57 per cent) and georgette (11.2 per cent).

Some commodities, however, witnessed reductions over the past year. Onion prices fell by 68.64 per cent, wheat flour by 33.33 per cent, and tomatoes by 12.08 per cent. Chilli powder became 20 per cent cheaper, while electricity charges for the lowest consumption slab declined by 18.92 per cent. Other declines included diesel (-9.37 per cent), petrol (-8.55 per cent), and LPG (-1.82 per cent).