By Moaaz Manzoor

Pakistan’s weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator, increased by 0.91% during the last week, as steep rises in tomato, diesel, egg and petrol prices outweighed declines in chicken, bananas and pulses.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the combined SPI rose to 360.88 from 357.61 in the preceding week. The increase was slower than the 1.40% rise recorded during the week ended July 16. On a year-on-year basis, inflation eased to 9.66% from 13.09% a week earlier.

The SPI, based on 2015-16 prices, tracks 51 essential commodities collected from 50 markets in 17 urban centres to measure short-term changes in consumer prices.

Tomatoes recorded the largest weekly increase, rising 39.92%, followed by high-speed diesel at 15.87%, eggs at 7.31%, petrol at 5.23% and potatoes at 3.70%.

The price of an 11.67-kilogram LPG cylinder increased 0.91%, while cooked daal became 0.72% more expensive. Lipton tea prices rose 0.59%, mustard oil 0.45%, garlic 0.41%, cooked beef 0.36% and washing soap 0.21%.

These increases were partly offset by lower prices of eight commodities. Chicken prices declined 4.66%, followed by bananas at 1.72%, pulse moong at 1.08% and pulse mash at 1.07%.

IRRI-6/9 rice became 0.52% cheaper, while pulse masoor declined 0.40%, sugar 0.09% and pulse gram 0.03%.

Out of the 51 commodities included in the SPI basket, prices of 22 items, representing 43.14%, increased during the week. Eight items, or 15.68%, became cheaper, while prices of the remaining 21 commodities, accounting for 41.18%, remained unchanged.

Annual price pressures remained concentrated in food and energy items. Tomato prices were 253.04% higher than in the corresponding week of 2025, while onions became 81.55% more expensive and wheat flour rose 74.13%.

Among energy items, LPG prices increased 46.87% year on year, followed by high-speed diesel at 31.92%, electricity charges for the lowest consumption quintile at 22.79% and petrol at 20.32%.

Other annual increases were recorded in mutton at 16.02%, chilli powder at 15.20%, beef at 13.09%, bananas at 12.06% and plain bread at 9.69%.

Several essential items, however, remained cheaper than a year earlier. Potato prices declined 32.69%, followed by pulse gram at 21.48%, sugar at 17.67% and salt powder at 14.09%.

Chicken prices were down 13.73% year on year, while pulse masoor declined 13.55%, eggs 9.59% and pulse moong 8.67%.

Weekly inflation increased across all five expenditure groups. The rise ranged from 0.80% for households spending between Rs22,889 and Rs29,517 per month to 0.98% for those spending more than Rs44,175.

The lowest expenditure group, covering households spending up to Rs17,732 per month, recorded a weekly increase of 0.87%. Inflation rose 0.89% for the second group and 0.86% for the fourth group.

On a year-on-year basis, the second expenditure group, covering monthly spending between Rs17,733 and Rs22,888, faced the highest inflation rate of 10.76%.

Annual inflation stood at 10.23% for the lowest expenditure group, 9.27% for the third group and 9.23% for the fourth group. The highest expenditure group recorded the lowest annual rate at 9.11%.

The latest figures show that weekly price pressure remained driven by tomatoes and motor fuels, although cheaper chicken, bananas and pulses helped keep the overall increase below the previous week’s level.

Credit: INP-WealthPk