ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation in Pakistan, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), increased 3.87 per cent year-on-year in the week ending January 15, driven mainly by rising prices of tomatoes and LPG cylinders.
Read More: Rising prices push Pakistan’s weekly inflation up 0.73%
Official data released on Friday showed that SPI-based inflation has trended upward for 24 consecutive weeks, largely due to surges in perishable items, wheat flour, and pulses. On a weekly basis, inflation rose by 0.25 per cent, reflecting consistent increases in non-perishable food prices.
Items that recorded the highest week-on-week price increases included tomatoes (27.64pc), LPG cylinders (7.03pc), wheat flour (3.26pc), eggs (2.19pc), bananas (1.68pc), chilli powder (1.02pc), firewood (0.80pc), pulse moong (0.70pc), georgette fabric (0.69pc), mustard oil (0.67pc), and powdered milk (0.36pc).
Conversely, prices of some commodities declined over the same period. Potatoes fell by 6.72pc, onions by 3.82pc, chicken by 1.66pc, salt powder by 0.67pc, pulse gram by 0.58pc, basmati broken rice by 0.44pc, vegetable ghee 1kg by 0.31pc, and pulse masoor by 0.29pc.
On an annual basis, the most notable price increases were recorded in wheat flour (34.90pc), Q1 gas charges (29.85pc), eggs (20.85pc), beef (12.83pc), chili powder (12.56pc), sugar (10.43pc), firewood (10.35pc), gur (9.97pc), powdered milk (9.90pc), bananas (8.92pc), lawn printed fabric (8.29pc), and shirting fabric (7.93pc).
However, annual price declines were seen in potatoes (46.60pc), onions (37.30pc), garlic (35.91pc), tomatoes (32.88pc), pulse gram (31.03pc), Lipton tea (17.79pc), pulse mash (13.69pc), pulse masoor (9.55pc), diesel (1.27pc), and petrol (0.95pc).
Read More: Weekly inflation up by 0.12%
Analysts say that continued volatility in essential food and fuel prices is likely to keep short-term inflation elevated, impacting household budgets and overall cost of living.