Short-term inflation eases to 3.57% YoY

The weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), decelerated to 3.57% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis during the week ending December 5, compared to the corresponding week last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. 

On a week-on-week (WoW) basis, inflation decreased by 0.34% for combined consumption groups, with the SPI recorded at 322.91 points, down from 324.00 points the previous week.

The SPI, based on the 2015-16 index year, covers 17 urban centers and tracks the prices of 51 essential items across all expenditure groups. For the lowest consumption group (up to Rs17,732), the SPI fell by 0.44%, dropping to 317.20 points from 318.60 points. 

Consumption groups from Rs17,732 to Rs22,888; Rs22,889 to Rs29,517; Rs29,518 to Rs44,175; and above Rs44,175 saw declines of 0.45%, 0.39%, 0.38%, and 0.28%, respectively.

Of the 51 items monitored, 18 (35.29%) saw price increases, 10 (19.61%) experienced price decreases, and 23 (45.10%) remained stable during the week.

Items that recorded the largest WoW decreases included tomatoes (25.15%), chicken (9.90%), pulse mash (1.67%), pulse gram (0.73%), wheat flour (0.71%), pulse masoor (0.46%), rice basmati broken (0.37%), rice irri-6/9 (0.37%), and LPG (0.19%).

Items with the largest WoW price increases included garlic (1.83%), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (1.72%), potatoes (1.69%), petrol (1.48%), sugar (1.33%), diesel (1.27%), onions (1.10%), vegetable ghee 1kg (1.07%), cooking oil 5-litre (0.99%), bananas (0.48%), firewood (0.14%), and cigarettes (0.09%).

On a YoY basis, commodities with notable price decreases included wheat flour (35.40%), chilies powder (20.00%), diesel (10.77%), petrol (10.33%), pulse masoor (9.66%), rice basmati broken (7.86%), tea packet (7.53%), chicken (7.34%), electricity charges for Q1 (6.96%), bread (5.99%), and onions (4.55%).

Items with YoY price increases included ladies’ sandals (75.09%), pulse gram (65.64%), pulse moong (37.83%), powdered milk (25.74%), beef (23.77%), tomatoes (17.93%), garlic (17.44%), potatoes (17.31%), gas charges for Q1 (15.52%), shirting (15.03%), cooked daal (15.02%), and georgette fabric (13.07%).