By Moaaz Manzoor

Pakistan’s weekly inflation, measured through the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), decreased by 0.54% for the week ended February 26, 2026, mainly due to a sharp decline in prices of key perishable food items, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The SPI, which tracks 51 essential commodities across 50 markets in 17 cities, provides a short-term snapshot of price fluctuations in the country. The weekly decline was primarily driven by tomatoes, which dropped 29.67%, followed by potatoes (10.62%), chicken (9.03%), onions (7.44%), eggs (3.43%), wheat flour (1.39%), bread (1.12%) and sugar (0.79%).

On the other hand, several items recorded price increases during the week. Bananas rose 4.49%, shirting 1.36%, LPG 0.86%, garlic 0.81%, long cloth 0.70%, mutton 0.63%, pulse masoor 0.47%, lawn printed 0.44%, pulse mash 0.40%, powdered milk 0.26%, while curd and beef each increased 0.25%.

Out of 51 items, prices of 13 items (25.49%) increased, 14 items (27.45%) decreased, while 24 items (47.06%) remained unchanged during the week.

On a year-on-year basis, SPI increased by 4.23% compared to the corresponding week last year. Major YoY increases were recorded in gas charges for Q1 (29.85%), wheat flour (29.51%), electricity charges for Q1 (17.33%), tomatoes (16.83%), chilies powder (15.20%), LPG (13.60%), bananas (11.73%), beef (11.69%), firewood (11.40%), powdered milk (10.16%), mutton (8.98%) and gur (8.36%).

Meanwhile, notable YoY declines were observed in potatoes (52.55%), chicken (29.55%), garlic (26.18%), onions (25.71%), pulse gram (23.74%), eggs (16.22%), salt powder (12.52%) and pulse masoor (11.93%).

The weekly decline was witnessed across all consumption quintiles. Inflation fell by 0.71% for Q1, 0.68% for Q2, 0.60% for Q3, 0.59% for Q4 and 0.47% for Q5, with the combined rate standing at 0.54%.

On a year-on-year basis, the increase was 4.37% for Q1, 5.66% for Q2, 4.58% for Q3, 3.76% for Q4 and 3.00% for Q5, while the combined YoY rate stood at 4.23%.

Data from the previous two weeks show that SPI had increased by 1.16% in the week ended February 19 before contracting by 0.54% in the current week, indicating short-term volatility largely driven by food prices.

Credit: INP-WealthPk