Weekly inflation continues upward spiral
KARACHI: Consumers are facing a tough year as the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) rose 8.62 per cent year-on-year for the week ending on Sept 10, with a major contribution from costly onion and petroleum products, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday. Major increase was observed in the prices of onions (125.52pc), LPG (55.42pc), diesel (45.26pc), petrol (39.10pc),…
Consumers in Pakistan are bracing for a challenging year as the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) surged by 8.62 percent year-on-year for the week ending Sept 10, driven primarily by soaring prices of onions and petroleum products, according to the latest data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The major contributors to the increase were onions, with a staggering 125.52 percent rise, followed by LPG (55.42 percent), diesel (45.26 percent), petrol (39.10 percent), wheat flour (30.18 percent), electricity for Q1 (25.24 percent), chillies powder (16.37 percent), mutton (15.92 percent), beef (13.28 percent), bananas (10.51 percent), fresh milk (8.12 percent), and plain bread (8.09 percent).
Notably, prices of certain items decreased compared to last year. These included potatoes (35.21 percent), chicken (24.30 percent), sugar (20.88 percent), eggs (19.95 percent), tomatoes (17.65 percent), salt powder (13.96 percent), gram pulse (13.52 percent), and pulse masoor (12.26 percent). Week-over-week, the SPI rose by 0.23 percent, with a significant increase in the prices of petrol (6.18 percent), diesel (5.49 percent), LPG (4.32 percent), gram pulse (0.79 percent), washing soap (0.49 percent), wheat flour (0.47 percent), gram masoor (0.46 percent), mustard oil (0.36 percent), cooking oil 5-liter (0.23 percent), rice Irri-6/9 (0.18 percent), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.11 percent), and curd (0.03 percent).
Conversely, bananas, tomatoes, chicken, onions, potatoes, eggs, garlic, and sugar experienced significant price drops.
Out of 51 items tracked, 14 (27.45 percent) saw price increases, while 10 (19.61 percent) decreased, and 27 (52.94 percent) remained stable during the week. The Gulf war since Feb 28 has wreaked havoc on global oil prices, leading to substantial hikes in domestic petroleum prices and forcing manufacturers to transfer these costs to consumers.
The data revealed that Karachi residents pay the highest price for a 20kg bag of wheat, ranging from Rs2,950 to Rs3,200, compared to other cities. In contrast, Islamabad and Quetta residents pay Rs173 per kg for fine flour.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
