Short-term inflation rises over 9pc

Islamabad: Inflation, gauged by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), jumped a notable 9.04 percent year-on-year during the week concluding August 27, largely attributed to escalated energy costs, noted official figures unveiled on Friday. The administration is persistently hiking petrol and diesel prices on a daily basis, leading to a rise in transport expenses over the past several weeks.

This surge in transport costs has been mirrored in the prices of essential food commodities like onions, tomatoes, and various vegetables. The index experienced a 0.05 percent uptick compared to the preceding week, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The overall SPI exhibited a widespread increase, underscoring persistent pressure on the cost of living.

The surge was primarily fueled by substantial year-on-year growths in critical goods, including petrol (29.84 percent), diesel (36.33 percent), LPG (55.66 percent), and wheat flour (45.28 percent). The SPI has logged an uptick for the 72nd week consecutively. While the growth rate has decelerated, it indicates ongoing strain on consumers.

Among the items that witnessed the most price escalation compared to the prior week were LPG (3.46 percent), diesel (2.44 percent), electricity for Q1 (2.06 percent), petrol (1.71 percent), pulse gram (0.88 percent), wheat flour (0.39 percent), eggs (0.34 percent), mustard oil & pulse masoor (0.30 percent), tea prepared (0.20 percent), pulse mash (0.17 percent), and beef (0.06 percent).

Conversely, tomatoes (18.65 percent), chicken (4.41 percent), onions (2.87 percent), bananas (2.80 percent), garlic (1.02 percent), rice IRRI-6/9 (0.42 percent), rice basmati broken (0.41 percent), and potatoes (0.39 percent) recorded price declines on a week-over-week basis. However, on an annual basis, the most notable price increases were observed in onions (125.86 percent), LPG (55.66 percent), wheat flour (45.28 percent), tomatoes (36.69 percent), diesel (36.33 percent), petrol (29.84 percent), electricity for Q1 (25.24 percent), chillies powder (16.37 percent), mutton (16.01 percent), bananas (14.50 percent), beef (13.61 percent), and plain bread (9.37 percent).