ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index-based inflation for the week ending March 26 rose by 0.97 percent, primarily driven by higher prices of onions by 18 percent, tomatoes by 11.38 percent, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by 10.05 percent, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday.
Other items that witnessed price increases included Chicken 8.70 percent, potatoes 8.11 percent, electricity charges for Q1 6.11 percent, eggs 3.54 percent, garlic 3.23 percent, mutton 2.55 percent, beef 1.52 percent, georgette 0.38 percent, and firewood 0.34 percent.
According to the PBS data, during the week under review, a reduction was witnessed in the prices of bananas (4.50 percent), wheat flour (1 percent), sugar (0.29 percent), gur (0.20 percent), and pulse moong & rice IRRI-6/9 (0.17 percent).
Out of the 51 items in the SPI basket, the prices of 23 items (35.29 percent) increased, six items (11.76 percent) declined, and 22 items (43.14 percent) remained unchanged.
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The year-on-year (YoY) basis SPI trend depicts an increase of 8.24 percent. Major increases were observed in the prices of LPG by 34.73 percent, diesel by 29.94 percent, gas charges for Q1 by 29.85 percent, wheat flour by 25.76 percent, petrol by 25.75 percent, onions by 25.07 percent, chili powder by 15.20 percent, beef by 13.08 percent, mutton by 12.41 percent, powdered milk by 10.10 percent, rice basmati broken by 6.51 percent, and gur by 6.31 percent.
Meanwhile, the YoY data also highlighted significant declines in certain items, with potatoes down 45.71 percent, pulse gram 17.54 percent, eggs 13.63 percent, garlic 12.92 percent, salt powder 12.55 percent, chicken 11.94 percent, pulse masoor11.62 percent, and sugar 11.34 percent.
Breaking down SPI by income groups, households with a monthly income of up to Rs 17,732 saw a 0.97 percent increase, with SPI rising from 326.22 to 339.39 points. For the Rs 17,733-22,888 income group, SPI increased by 0.1.09 percent, jumping from 329.25 to 332.83 points.
Households earning Rs 22,889-29,517 recorded a 0.88 percent rise from 350.92 to 353.93 points, while the Rs 29,518-44,175 bracket saw SPI climb by 0.79 percent from 338.82 to 341.48 points. The highest income group, Rs 44,175 and above, recorded a 0.94 percent increase, taking SPI from 341.97 to 345.20 points.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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