Rising flour prices fuel weekly inflation

Official figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday indicate that short-term inflation rose to 11.85 percent year-on-year in the week ending October 22. This surge is primarily attributed to the rising prices of wheat flour, a key staple in the Pakistani diet. The index, which monitors the prices of 51 essential items from 50 markets in 17 cities, is a weekly calculation that tracks changes in the cost of basic commodities and services.

The data shows that 19 of these items (37.72 percent) saw price hikes, while 12 items (23.53 percent) experienced decreases, with the remaining 20 items (39.22 percent) remaining stable. The Sensitive Price Index, tracking short-term inflation, increased by 0.65 percent week-on-week, highlighting the volatility in both food and non-food prices.

The government's decision to maintain rising petroleum prices, coupled with the continuous hikes in petrol and diesel rates daily, has exacerbated inflationary pressures. This cost-push inflation, driven by energy cost increases, is subsequently driving up the prices of food items. Consequently, households are bearing the brunt of higher consumer prices.

Among the items witnessing the steepest price increases were liquefied petroleum gas (22.44 percent), chicken (12.20 percent), onions (4.19 percent), shirts (1.86 percent), bread (1.66 percent), wheat flour (1 percent), garlic (0.74 percent), firewood (0.71 percent), georgette (0.59 percent), vegetable ghee (0.59 percent), beef (0.31 percent), and pulse mash (0.30 percent).

Conversely, tomatoes (21.99 percent), petrol (3.63 percent), banana (2.42 percent), diesel (1.68 percent), potatoes (1.38 percent), gram (0.93 percent), eggs (0.58 percent), powdered milk (0.38 percent), and broken rice (0.35 percent) recorded the most significant price declines. On an annual basis, LPG saw the most dramatic price surge (107.12 percent), followed by onions (72.81 percent), electricity for the first quarter (58.59 percent), petrol (44.17 percent), diesel (41.56 percent), chicken (38.99 percent), wheat flour (36.49 percent), chili powder (15.55 percent), mutton (14.66 percent), beef (12.10 percent), plain bread (10.82 percent), and tea (8.36 percent).

In contrast, tomato prices dropped by 71.72 percent, followed by potatoes (40.75 percent), sugar (25 percent), eggs (22.14 percent), salt powder (14.86 percent), pulse masoor (9.08 percent), gur (8.98 percent), and pulse moong (7.05 percent).