Weekly Inflation Drops to Lowest Level in Nearly 7 Months

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation for the week ended on April 25, 2024, decreased by 1.10 percent due to a decline in the prices of tomatoes (20.83 percent), onions (14.43 percent), chicken (11.64 percent), wheat flour (4.92 percent), eggs (4.45 percent), chilies powder (3.86 percent) and LPG (2.22 percent), says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The year-on-year (YoY) trend depicts an increase of 26.94 percent. According to Arif Habib Limited, this marks the lowest YoY growth in nearly 7 months, reaching a level not seen since September 14, 2023, when it recorded a 26.25 percent increase. The YoY increase was mainly due to an increase in the prices of gas charges for q1 ( 570.00 percent), tomatoes (122.34 percent), onions (121.31 percent), chilies powder (76.53 percent), gents sandal (66.71 percent), garlic (65.11 percent), gents sponge chappal (58.05 percent), salt powder (31.87 percent), shirting (30.17 percent), gur (27.18 percent), pulse mash (27.07 percent) and beef (24.07 percent) while a decrease is observed in the prices of bananas (33.77 percent), cooking oil 5 liter (20.77 percent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (17.56 percent), vegetable ghee 1 kg (17.04 percent), wheat flour (16.72 percent), mustard oil (13.36 percent), eggs (9.32 percent), LPG (7.21 percent) and diesel (0.85 percent). During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 15 (29.41 percent) items increased, 10 (19.61 percent) items decreased and 26 (50.98 percent) items remained stable. The items, prices of which, increased during the period under review include potatoes (1.80 percent), powdered milk nido 390 gm polybag each (1.30 percent), vegetable ghee dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1 kg pouch each (0.70 percent), pulse mash (0.65 percent), sugar refined (0.60 percent), gur (0.59 percent), cooked daal (0.56 percent), mutton (0.51 percent), shirting (0.37 percent), beef with bone (0.36 percent), cooking oil dalda or other similar brands (sn), 5-liter tin each (0.18 percent), pulse moong (0.17 percent), mustard oil (0.15 percent), vegetable ghee dalda/Habib 2.5 kg tin each (0.11 percent) and pulse masoor (0.06 percent). The items, prices of which, declined during the period under review include tomatoes (20.83 percent), onions (14.43 percent), chicken (11.64 percent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (4.92 percent), eggs (4.45 percent), chilies powder national 200 gm packet each (3.86 percent), bananas (3.30 percent), LPG (2.22 percent), garlic (0.43 percent) and rice basmati broken (0.16 percent).