Pakistan’s short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), rose to 11.97 per cent year-on-year for the week ending October 8, primarily fueled by rising food prices—most notably wheat flour—alongside elevated energy and transportation costs, official data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed on Friday.
On a week-on-week basis, the SPI ticked up by 0.57 per cent, capturing recent price fluctuations across 51 essential commodities monitored across 50 markets in 17 cities. Out of the tracked items, prices for 20 commodities (39.22%) recorded increases, six items (11.76%) saw declines, and 25 items (49.02%) remained unchanged from the preceding week.
Cost-Push Inflation and Energy Pressures
Short-term inflation has sustained double-digit levels for several consecutive weeks, driven significantly by continuous adjustments to petroleum prices. Unwilling to reduce the petroleum levy, the government’s fuel price increases have rippled through supply chains, sharply raising transportation costs and directly inflating the retail prices of kitchen staples like wheat flour, onions, tomatoes, and other vegetables.
Tax analysts note that this cost-push environment indirectly boosts government revenue, as higher prices of goods and services yield elevated sales tax collections. However, the compounding surge in energy and food expenses continues to strain household budgets across the country.
In response to the inflationary pressure, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal chaired a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) on Thursday. Expressing serious concern over escalating staple costs—particularly wheat flour—he instructed provincial and district authorities to step up vigilance regarding supply chains, market arrivals, hoarding, profiteering, and unjustified price hikes.
Weekly Price Movement Highlights
Top Price Increases (Week-on-Week):
- Wheat Flour: +5.69%
- Chicken: +4.93%
- Pulse Gram: +3.99%
- Petrol & Tomatoes: +2.40% each
- Pulse Masoor: +1.29%
- Prepared Tea: +1.08%
- Cooked Daal: +0.98%
- Pulse Mash: +0.91%
- LPG: +0.57%
Notable Price Declines (Week-on-Week):
- Bananas: -2.81%
- Diesel: -1.37%
- Potatoes: -0.89%
- Sugar: -0.37%
- Gur: -0.19%
- Pulse Moong: -0.03%
Year-on-Year Overview
On an annual basis, the steepest price surges were registered in onions (+100.24%), LPG (+68.55%), Q1 electricity (+58.59%), petrol (+47.52%), diesel (+42.52%), and wheat flour (+32.60%). Other notable annual increases included chilli powder (+15.55%), mutton (+15.02%), beef (+12.60%), chicken (+9.44%), plain bread (+8.99%), and curd (+8.08%).
Conversely, significant annual price drops offered relief in select items, led by potatoes (-39.51%), tomatoes (-37.07%), sugar (-22.44%), eggs (-18.88%), powdered salt (-14.81%), pulse masoor (-9.79%), gur (-8.59%), and pulse moong (-8.37%).
