Weekly Inflation Falls Below 2% as Food, Fuel Prices Drop

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation for the week ended January 8, 2024, increased by 1.9 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to the data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).  The year-on-year number is lowest after six years, according to brokerage house Topline Securities.  The year-on-year trend depicts an increase mainly due to an increase in the prices of Potatoes (58.76 percent), Pulse Gram (42.11 percent), Pulse Moong (34.15 percent), Powdered Milk (25.76 percent), Beef (23.75 percent), Garlic (18.43 percent), Gas Charges for Q1 (15.52 percent), Vegetable Ghee 1Kg (15.48 percent), Cooked Daal (15.10 percent), Shirting (14.36 percent) and Firewood (12.89 percent).  While major decrease was observed in the prices of Onions (36.25 percent), Wheat Flour (36.17 percent), Eggs (24.07 percent), Chilies Powder (20.00 percent), Electricity Charges for Q1 (18.11 percent), Pulse Masoor (11.18 percent), Rice Basmati Broken (9.14 percent), Pulse Mash (7.00 percent), Diesel (6.39 percent), Bread (5.48 percent) and Petrol (5.45 percent).   On the other hand, the SPI based inflation decreased by 0.65 percent on week-on-week basis due to a decrease in the prices of Tomatoes (31.40 percent), Potatoes (10.36 percent), Eggs (5.96 percent), Pulse Gram (1.64 percent), Onions (0.87 percent), Rice Basmati Broken (0.54 percent), Rice IRRI-6/9 (0.40 percent), Pulse Mash (0.27 percent) and LPG (0.14 percent).  During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 18 (35.29 percent) items increased, 10 (19.61 percent) items decreased and 23 (45.10 percent) items remained stable.