Farooq Awan

Pakistan’s year-on-year inflation, measured through the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), stood at 3.20% for the week ended January 08, 2026, according to official data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The SPI tracks short-term price movements of essential commodities and is compiled weekly on the basis of prices of 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 urban centres across the country. The year-on-year comparison reflects changes in prices during the same period of the previous year and provides an indication of inflationary trends affecting households over a longer horizon.

According to PBS data, the combined SPI increased from 323.97 in the corresponding week of last year to 334.35 in the current reporting week, resulting in a 3.20% year-on-year increase. The rise reflects higher prices of several essential food and non-food items compared to the same week in January 2025.

The year-on-year SPI increase was observed across all consumption quintiles. The lowest consumption quintile (Q1) recorded an annual increase of 2.42%, while Q2 registered 3.65%, Q3 3.43%, Q4 3.08%, and the highest quintile (Q5) 2.58%. These figures indicate that inflationary pressure was present across all income groups, with moderate variation among quintiles.

PBS data shows that on a year-on-year basis, significant increases were recorded in prices of several essential commodities. Major increases were observed in wheat flour, gas charges for the first quarter, beef, chilies powder, sugar, bananas, firewood, gur, powdered milk, shirting, lawn printed fabric and eggs. These increases contributed to the overall rise in the SPI compared to the corresponding week of last year.

At the same time, notable year-on-year declines were recorded in prices of several food items, including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, pulse gram, tea (Lipton), pulse mash and pulse masoor. Decreases were also recorded in prices of LPG and high-speed diesel compared to the same period last year.

The SPI year-on-year trend is used by policymakers and analysts to assess inflationary developments in essential commodities over time. The PBS releases SPI data on a weekly basis to provide timely insights into price movements and their impact on households.

Credit: INP-WealthPk