Weekly Inflation Hits Almost 43% Amid Costly Food, Energy Prices

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) inflation remained above 40 percent for the 4th straight week, driven by the increase in food and energy prices, according to the latest data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday. The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 42.68 percent mainly due to an increase in the prices of Gas Charges for Q1 (1,108.59 percent), Cigarettes (94.20 percent), Wheat Flour (85.05 percent), Chilies Powder (81.74 percent), Garlic (73.09 percent), Rice Basmati Broken (68.53 percent), Rice IRRI 6/9 (60.94 percent), while a decrease was observed in the prices of Onions (22.59 percent), Tomatoes (6.97 percent), Mustard Oil (4.04 percent), Vegetable Ghee 1 KG (3.00 percent), Vegetable Ghee 2.5 kg (1.30 percent) and Bananas (0.01 percent). During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 15 (29.41 percent) items increased, 14 (27.45 percent) items decreased and 22 (43.14 percent) items remained stable. SPI-based inflation for the week, ended December 7, 2023, increased by 1.16 percent. Some of the items which saw an increase in prices during the period under review include onions (8.42 percent), energy saver Philips (3.05 percent), eggs (2.52 percent), electricity charges for Q1 per unit (2.03 percent), pulse moong (0.88 percent), sugar (0.84 percent), bananas (0.67 percent), firewood whole 40 kg (0.55 percent), LPG (0.42 percent), tea prepared ordinary (0.37 percent), shirting (0.20 percent), pulse masoor (0.10 percent), mustard oil (0.09 percent), curd (0.02 percent) and mutton (0.02 percent). Some of the items that registered a decrease in prices during the period under review include tomatoes (9.82 percent), potatoes (4.34 percent), and chicken (2.99 percent).