Pakistan’s weekly inflation decelerates with minimal price changes

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), a key measure of weekly inflation, eased to 3.71% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis during the week ending December 12, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

However, on a week-on-week (WoW) basis, inflation showed a marginal uptick of 0.07% for the combined consumption groups. The SPI stood at 323.14 points compared to 322.91 points in the previous week.

The SPI, based on the 2015-16 fiscal year as the base, covers price changes in 51 essential commodities across 17 urban centers. For the lowest-income group earning up to Rs. 17,732 monthly, inflation rose by a negligible 0.03%, while higher consumption groups experienced increases ranging from 0.05% to 0.08%.

The SPI for consumption groups from Rs 17,732 to 22,888; Rs 22,889-29,517; Rs 29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175 increased by 0.05 percent, 0.07 percent, 0.07 percent, and 0.08 percent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 18 (35.29%) items increased, 11 (21.57%) items decreased and 22 (43.14%) items remained stable.

The items, which recorded a major decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included onions (3.58%), tomatoes (3.10%), eggs (2.14%), garlic (1.58%), pulse gram (1.19%), rice irri-6/9 (0.75%), pulse mash (0.59%), wheat flour (0.58%) and firewood (0.16%).

The commodities which recorded major increase in their average prices on week-on-week basis included chicken (3.80%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (2.27%), bananas (1.99%), potatoes (1.93%), mustard oil (1.07%), cooking oil 5 liter (0.98%), washing soap (0.80%), vegetable ghee 1kg (0.52%), cooked daal (0.40%), energy saver (0.31%), LPG (0.28%) and cigarettes (0.26%).

On year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed decrease included wheat flour (35.88%), chilies powder (20.00%), diesel (10.77%), petrol (10.33%), pulse masoor (10.26%), onions (8.92%), rice basmati broken (7.46%), electricity charges for q1 (6.96%), sugar (6.52%), bread (5.99%) and tea packet (5.09%).

The commodities which recorded an increase in their average prices on year-on-year basis included ladies sandal (75.09%), pulse gram (59.55%), pulse moong (36.44%), potatoes (36.16%), powdered milk (25.74%), beef (23.82%), tomatoes (20.51%), garlic (15.97%), gas charges for q1 ( 15.52%), cooked daal (14.85%), shirting (14.54%) and firewood (12.05%).