ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index (SPI)-based inflation for the week ended on October 8 recorded an increase of 0.57 percent, owing to a hike in the prices of wheat flour, up by 5.69 percent, chicken by 4.93 percent, pulse gram by 3.99 percent, petrol and tomatoes by 2.40 percent each.
The SPI data released here on Friday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that the prices of other items, which witnessed an increase, included pulse masoor, up by 1.29 percent, tea prepared by 1.08 percent, cooked daal by 0.98 percent, pulse mash by 0.91 percent, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by 0.57 percent.
According to PBS data, during the week under review, the prices of the following edible items witnessed a decline: bananas down by 2.81 percent, diesel by 1.37 percent, potatoes by 0.89 percent, sugar by 0.37 percent, gur by 0.19 percent, and pulse moong by 0.03 percent.
READ MORE: Weekly SPI inflation up 0.21pc
During the week, of 51 items, the prices of 20 items, which constitute 39.22 percent of the SPI basket, recorded an increase; the prices of 6 items, or 11.76 percent of the basket, recorded a reduction; and the prices of 25 items, or 49.02 percent of the basket, remained stable.
The Year on Year (YoY) trend depicts an increase of 11.97 percent mainly driven by sharp escalation in the prices of onions that up by 100.24 percent, LPG by 68.55 percent, electricity for Q1 by 58.59 percent, petrol by 47.52 percent, diesel by 42.52 percent), wheat flour by 32.60 percent, chili powder by 15.55 percent, mutton by 15.02 percent, beef by 12.60 percent, chicken by 9.44 percent, bread plain by 8.99 percent and curd by 8.08 percent.
On a YoY basis, a major reduction was witnessed in the price of potatoes, which was down by 39.51 percent, tomatoes by 37.07 percent, sugar by 22.44 percent, eggs by 18.88 percent, salt powder by 14.81 percent, pulse masoor by 9.79 percent, gur by 8.59 percent, and pulse moong by 8.37 percent.
Breaking down SPI by income groups, households with a monthly income of up to Rs 17,732 registered an increase of 0.52 percent, with SPI jumping from 354.73 to 356.56 points. For the Rs 17,733-22,888 income group, the SPI went up by 0.54 percent, going up from 358.13 to 360.08 points.
The SPI for households with monthly earnings of Rs 22,889-29,517 registered an increase of 0.53 percent, going up from 378.66 to 380.67 points, while the Rs 29,518-44,175 bracket SPI went up by 0.57 percent, going up from 366.01 to 368.09 points.
The highest income group, Rs 44,175 and above, recorded a 0.60 percent increase, taking SPI up from 370.22 to 372.43 points. The combined SPI jumped from 370.40 points to 372.58 points, reflecting an overall increase of 0.21 percent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026