Weekly inflation rises amid surge in sugar, gas prices

ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), increased by 2.3 per cent year-on-year during the week ending August 21, mainly due to higher sugar and gas prices, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday.

This marks the fifth consecutive weekly rise in SPI-based inflation.

On a week-on-week basis, however, the SPI for combined consumption groups edged down slightly by 0.01 per cent, standing at 329.11 points compared to 329.15 points in the previous week.

For the lowest income group (up to Rs17,732), the SPI rose by 0.20 per cent to 318.59 points from 317.94 a week earlier. Inflation for other expenditure groups recorded mixed trends, with slight increases for middle-income brackets and marginal decreases for higher-income groups.

The SPI for consumption groups of Rs17,733 to Rs22,888 decreased by 0.01 percent, whereas it increased by 0.15 percent and 0.22 percent for consumption groups from Rs 22,889-29,517 and Rs 29,518-44,175, respectively, while for the consumption group above Rs 44,175, it decreased by 0.02 percent.

Out of 51 essential items tracked, prices of 18 (35.29%) increased, 8 (15.69%) declined, and 25 (49.02%) remained unchanged.

Key items showing weekly increases included electricity charges (9.01%), diesel (4.46%), moong pulse (1.71%), potatoes (1.15%), bananas (0.92%) and mash pulse (0.88%). Major declines were recorded in tomatoes (19.87%), onions (10.85%), wheat flour (9.38%), chicken (3.63%), garlic (2.28%) and sugar (1.20%).

On a year-on-year basis, prices of onions (−45.99%), garlic (−25.25%), mash pulse (−23.47%), potatoes (−20.66%) and wheat flour (−9.34%) declined, while sugar (+26.11%), gas charges (+29.85%), ladies sandals (+55.62%), beef (+13.03%) and vegetable ghee (+11–12%) saw notable increases.

Notably, the weekly SPI with the base year 2015-16 =100 covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.