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Weekly Inflation Eases 0.35% but Stays at 11.32% Year-on-Year, PBS Data Shows

The weekly SPI dipped for the week ended October 29, yet the year-on-year figure — the one households feel — remains stuck in double digits at 11.32%.

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Shoppers at a vegetable market looking at blank price tags

Highlights

  • Short-term inflation stood at 11.32% year-on-year in the week ending October 29, PBS data showed
  • The SPI fell 0.35% week-on-week, helped by cheaper electricity charges, chicken, eggs and wheat flour
  • Tomato prices jumped 34.91% in a week; potatoes rose 3.27% and diesel 2.53%
  • Year-on-year, LPG is up 106.86%, electricity charges for Q1 52.38%, diesel 45.13% and petrol 43.61%
  • Of 51 essential items tracked across 50 markets in 17 cities, 15 rose in price and 12 declined

A weekly dip inside a yearly problem

Short-term inflation rose to 11.32 per cent year-on-year in the week ending October 29, driven largely by perishable food products, according to official data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday Dawn. The Sensitive Price Index decreased slightly by 0.35% week-on-week, reflecting price fluctuations in both food and non-food items Dawn.

This article reports official price data; it contains no financial advice.

What the basket showed

The SPI tracks 51 items whose prices are collected from 50 markets in 17 cities. During the week, the prices of 15 commodities increased while those of 12 items declined Dawn.

The sharpest weekly increases included tomatoes (34.91%), potatoes (3.27%), diesel (2.53%), pulse gram (2.11%), plain bread (1.29%), onions (0.62%) and fresh milk (0.48%) Dawn. The biggest falls were in electricity charges for Q1 (3.92%), chicken (2.95%), eggs (2.81%), wheat flour (0.83%) and LPG (0.73%) Dawn.

Grocery items, a calculator and blank receipts on a kitchen table

The year-on-year picture is energy

On an annual basis, the biggest increases are energy items: LPG (106.86%), electricity charges for Q1 (52.38%), diesel (45.13%) and petrol (43.61%), followed by wheat flour (34.87%) and chicken (31.72%) Dawn. Business Recorder’s reading of the same release noted the SPI fell from 374.84 points to 373.51 points, with declines recorded across all income groups, steepest for the highest earners at 0.41% Business Recorder.

Vendor weighing vegetables for concerned customers at a market stall

Why households still feel no relief

Dawn’s report noted that short-term inflation has remained in double digits for several consecutive weeks, largely on the back of persistent increases in petroleum and diesel prices, and that the government has continued to raise petrol and diesel prices rather than reduce the petroleum levy Dawn. That is the mechanism linking global oil risk — the same force that knocked the stock market in our PSX report — to the price of tomatoes and transport in local markets. A 0.35% weekly dip is welcome arithmetic; at 11.32% year-on-year, it is not yet relief.