Fuel and food prices push weekly inflation higher: PBS report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s short-term inflation edged up by 0.38 per cent during the past week, driven mainly by rising prices of food and fuel items, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday. However, compared to the same week last year, inflation was down 1.61 per cent.

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI), which tracks the prices of 51 essential items across 17 cities, showed that prices rose for 22 items, fell for 9, and remained unchanged for 20 during the week.

Among the items that saw a notable increase were chicken (up 8.31 per cent), eggs (5.87 per cent), diesel (4.15 per cent), petrol (2.00 per cent), onions (1.76 per cent), garlic (1.70 per cent), and potatoes (1.46 per cent). Other items such as firewood, cooked daal, powdered milk, mutton and cigarettes also recorded modest gains

In contrast, the prices of tomatoes dropped by 9.34 per cent, followed by bananas (1.57 per cent), liquefied petroleum gas (0.95 per cent), and various pulses, wheat flour, sugar and rice which showed slight declines.

On a year-on-year basis, prices of several food and utility items saw sharp drops. Onions and tomatoes were both down by nearly 49 per cent, electricity charges for the first quarter fell by over 37 per cent, while garlic, wheat flour, tea, and potatoes also became significantly cheaper.

However, not all items followed this trend. Some goods saw steep annual increases. These included ladies’ sandals (up 55.62 per cent), sugar (27.76 per cent), pulse moong (17.91 per cent), beef (14.62 per cent), vegetable ghee, chicken, and fabrics like lawn and georgette.

When broken down by income groups, the weekly rise in inflation hit the highest income bracket the most, with a 0.46 per cent increase. In contrast, the lowest income group saw a smaller rise of 0.13 per cent. Over the year, inflation actually declined for all income groups, with the lowest group experiencing a 2.17 per cent drop, while the highest group saw a decrease of 0.45 per cent.

The average price of Sona urea rose slightly this week to Rs4,429 per 50 kg bag, up by 0.21 per cent. However, it is still 7.30 per cent lower than the price recorded last year. On the other hand, cement prices declined to Rs1,402 per 50 kg bag, marking a 0.71 per cent drop from last week and 4.30 per cent from last year.

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