ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index-based inflation for the week ended on October 1 recorded an increase of 0.21 percent owing to a hike in the prices of chicken by 7.25 percent, garlic by 1.85 percent, pulse gram by 1.30 percent, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by 1.17 percent.
The SPI data released here on Friday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that the prices of other items that witnessed an increase included eggs, 0.72 percent; rice IRRI-6/9, 0.55 percent; onions, 0.39 percent; washing soap, 0.33 percent; wheat flour, 0.29 percent; and cloth and lawn printed, 0.19 percent each.
According to PBS data, during the week under review, the prices of the following edible items witnessed a decline: Diesel, 3.43 percent; bananas, 1.52 percent; sugar, 1.05 percent; potatoes, 0.96 percent; petrol, 0.65 percent; pulse moong, 0.63 percent; tomatoes, 0.51 percent; pulse masoor, 0.42 percent; gur, 0.12 percent; and powdered milk, 0.10 percent.
READ MORE: SPI-based inflation rises slightly
During the week, of 51 items, the prices of 20 items, which constitute 39.21 percent of the SPI basket, recorded an increase; the prices of 10 items, or 19.61 percent of the basket, recorded a reduction; and the prices of 21 items, or 41.18 percent of the basket, remained stable.
The Year on Year (YoY) trend depicts an increase of 11.53 percent mainly driven by sharp escalation in the prices of onions up by 114.20 percent, LPG by 66.59 percent, electricity for Q1 by 58.59 percent, diesel by 44.50 percent, petrol by 44.05 percent, wheat flour by 32.65 percent, chili powder by 15.55 percent, mutton by 15.07 percent, chicken by 13.60 percent, beef by 12.90 percent, bread plain by 8.96 percent and fresh milk by 8.10 percent.
On a YoY basis, major downward trends were witnessed in the prices of tomatoes down by 45.52 percent, potatoes by 39.54 percent, sugar by 21.95 percent, eggs by 17.47 percent, salt powder by 14.81 percent, pulse masoor by 10.92 percent, pulse gram by 9.90 percent, and pulse moong by 8.20 percent.
Breaking down SPI by income groups, households with a monthly income of up to Rs17,732 registered an increase of 0.19 percent, with SPI jumping up from 354.06 to 354.74 points. For the Rs17,733-22,888 income group, the SPI went up by 0.20 percent, going up from 357.40 to 358.13 points.
SPI for households with monthly earnings of Rs22,889-29,517 registered an increase of 0.22 percent, going up from 377.88 to 378.66 points, while the Rs29,518-44,175 bracket SPI went up by 0.21 percent, going up from 365.21 to 366.01 points. The highest income group, Rs44,175 and above, recorded a 0.21 percent increase, taking SPI up from 369.45 to 370.22 points. The combined SPI jumped from 369.69 points to 370.40 points, reflecting an overall increase of 0.21 percent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
Comments