The prices of essential commodities in the country rose by 0.17% over the past week. The slight uptick reflects continued inflationary pressure on everyday household items, with notable increases observed in key staples such as chicken, onions, flour, and ghee, according to the latest data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
During the past week, the highest price increases were observed in:
Chicken (8.92%), onions (7.47%), wheat flour (5.74%), eggs (2.25%), jaggery (1.70%), garlic and vegetable ghee (1 kg each) (0.86%), vegetable ghee (2.5 kg) (0.59%), firewood (0.50%), laundry soap (0.23%).
Conversely, price reductions were recorded in: Tomatoes (11.34%), bananas (1.29%), potatoes (0.93%), lpg (0.59%), chickpeas (0.35%), mustard oil (0.07%).
According to the statistics, prices of 6 essential items decreased, 21 became more expensive, while prices of 24 items remained stable.
The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) showed a year-on-year increase of 4.34%. Items contributing most to this annual increase included: Tomatoes (109.82%), women’s sandals (55.62%), sugar (36.08%), gas charges for the first quarter (29.85%), wheat flour (17.70%), moong lentils (15.90%), jaggery (13.79%), meat (12.66%), diesel (12.57%), vegetable ghee 1kg (11.86%), firewood (11.65%), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (11.57%).
However, significant annual declines were recorded in: Onions (43.16%), garlic (28.16%), electricity charges for the first quarter (26.26%), gram lentils (24.97%), chicken (24.30%), potatoes (18.51%), mash lentils (18.17%), tea (lipton) (17.93%), masoor lentils (3.88%), LPG (2.16%).
