The weekly inflation rate, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), decelerated to 5.13% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis during the week ending November 28, compared to the corresponding week of the previous year, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The SPI index for combined consumption groups decreased by 0.03% compared to the previous week, falling from 324.11 points to 324.00 points. The SPI, which uses the 2015-16 base year, covers 17 urban centres and monitors the prices of 51 essential items for various expenditure groups.
For the lowest consumption group (income up to Rs17,732), the SPI increased by 0.06%, rising to 318.60 points from 318.40 points. For income groups between Rs17,732 and Rs22,888, inflation increased by 0.02%, while it remained unchanged for the Rs22,889–29,517 income group. However, for higher income groups (Rs29,518–44,175 and above Rs44,175), the SPI decreased by 0.02% and 0.06%, respectively.
Out of the 51 monitored items, prices for 12 items (23.53%) increased, nine items (17.65%) decreased, and 30 items (58.82%) remained stable during the week.
The prices of key items that recorded a weekly decrease included chicken (-3.78%), tomatoes (-2.23%), pulse gram (-1.60%), pulse masoor (-1.38%), rice basmati broken (-1.15%), gur (-0.59%), pulse mash (-0.53%), and pulse moong (-0.25%).
Conversely, items with a notable increase in weekly prices included potatoes (+3.34%), garlic (+1.69%), bananas (+1.13%), vegetable ghee (2.5 kg, +0.99%), vegetable ghee (1 kg, +0.93%), mustard oil (+0.91%), cooking oil (5 litres, +0.77%), eggs (+0.65%), washing soap (+0.53%), and LPG (+0.20%).
On a YoY basis, items showing significant price decreases included wheat flour (-35.17%), chilies powder (-20.00%), diesel (-13.92%), petrol (-11.64%), Lipton tea (-9.91%), rice basmati broken (-9.37%), pulse masoor (-9.14%), bread (-5.99%), electricity charges for Q1 (-5.07%), cooking oil (5 litres, -2.13%), and sugar (-1.71%).
Items with notable YoY price increases included ladies’ sandals (+75.09%), pulse gram (+66.40%), tomatoes (+42.08%), pulse moong (+38.38%), powdered milk (+25.74%), beef (+23.74%), gas charges for Q1 (+15.52%), garlic (+15.33%), shirting fabric (+15.27%), cooked daal (+14.78%), mutton (+14.73%), and georgette fabric (+13.07%).
These trends highlight varying pressures across essential commodities, impacting different income groups unevenly.
