Weekly inflation eases as onion, tomato, and diesel prices dip

ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, as tracked by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), saw a year-on-year drop of 0.87 per cent for the week ending March 6, marking the first decline in nearly seven years. This reduction can be attributed to falling retail prices of tea and various perishable goods.

According to official data released on Friday, inflation measured week-on-week also showed a slight dip of 0.09 per cent. The decrease in overall short-term inflation is largely due to the higher price base from last year. Most products, except for wheat flour, have seen price stability.

However, despite a drop in international prices, retail prices of sugar and edible oil continued to rise within the country.

Among the products experiencing price drops over the week were onions, which fell by 5.59 per cent, followed by Lipton tea (4.47 per cent), garlic (3.89 per cent), tomatoes (3.60 per cent), gram pulse (3.49 per cent), mash pulse (2.82 per cent), potatoes (2.60 per cent), diesel (2 per cent), masoor pulse (1.50 per cent), and petrol (0.24 per cent).

Conversely, certain items saw a price hike compared to the previous week, with bananas leading at a 9.79 per cent increase, followed by sugar (3.15 per cent), LPG (2.64 per cent), eggs (2.52 per cent), lawn fabric (0.55 per cent), mutton (0.33 per cent), wheat flour (0.22 per cent), long cloth and gur (0.17 per cent each), cigarettes and beef (0.06 per cent each), and rice IRRI-6/9 (0.01 per cent).

On a broader scale, the prices of onions have plummeted by 64.92 per cent, while tomatoes have fallen by 57.05 per cent, and wheat flour has dropped by 36.81 per cent.

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