By Azeem Ahmed Khan

Pakistan's weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased 0.49% during the week ended August 20, 2026, as higher prices of onions, petrol and chicken outweighed declines in eggs, diesel, tomatoes and several other essential commodities.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the SPI is calculated weekly to assess short-term movements in the prices of 51 essential commodities collected from 50 markets across 17 cities.

During the week under review, prices of 23 items, or 45.10% of the basket, increased, while 10 items, or 19.61%, became cheaper. Prices of the remaining 18 items, representing 35.29% of the basket, remained unchanged.

The combined SPI increased to 360.90 from 359.15 in the previous week. It stood at 329.11 in the corresponding week of last year.

Among the major weekly increases, onion prices surged 14.17%, followed by petrol at 3.77%, chicken 3.35%, garlic 2.00%, pulse gram 0.93%, prepared tea 0.70%, Lipton tea 0.34%, fresh milk 0.17%, cooked daal 0.15%, washing soap 0.12%, cigarettes 0.06% and shirting 0.01%.

Several essential commodities, however, recorded price declines. Eggs became 5.78% cheaper during the week, while diesel prices declined 5.15% and tomatoes fell 4.99%.

Potato prices decreased 1.17%, LPG 1.04%, bananas 0.91%, pulse moong 0.56% and sugar 0.24%. Prices of pulse masoor and pulse mash declined 0.14% each.

The weekly increase varied across consumption groups. The lowest expenditure group, comprising households with a monthly expenditure of up to Rs17,732, recorded a 0.38% increase in its SPI.

The second expenditure quintile recorded a 0.41% increase, the third 0.40%, the fourth 0.45% and the highest expenditure group 0.55%.

On a year-on-year basis, the combined SPI was 9.66% higher than the corresponding week of last year.

Onions registered the largest annual increase of 132.52%, followed by tomatoes at 93.21% and wheat flour at 62.25%. LPG was 51.69% more expensive, diesel was up by 33.08%, petrol 27.65% and electricity charges for the lowest consumption quintile 22.72%.

Other major year-on-year increases included bananas at 17.66%, chilli powder 16.37%, mutton 15.98%, beef 13.54% and plain bread 9.37%.

In contrast, several essential food items remained cheaper than a year earlier. Potato prices were down 30.01%, sugar 19.10%, chicken 17.68%, eggs 17.41%, salt powder 13.96%, pulse gram 13.02%, pulse masoor 12.29% and gur 6.01%.

The lowest expenditure group recorded year-on-year inflation of 9.87%, compared with 10.36% for the second quintile, 9.03% for the third, 9.10% for the fourth and 9.33% for the highest expenditure group.

The 10-week trend shows that the combined SPI stood at 356.11 on June 11 and reached 360.90 by August 20, although it fluctuated during the intervening weeks. The SPI for the lowest expenditure group moved from 337.25 to 350.03 over the same period.

Credit: INP-WealthPk