{
  "id": 14971480,
  "title": "Short-term inflation surges to 11.38pc due to costly food",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/short-term-inflation-surges-to-11-38pc-due-to-costly-food-14971480",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-16T13:18:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dawn",
    "slug": "dawn",
    "url": "https://www.dawn.com/news/2037605/short-term-inflation-surges-to-1138pc-due-to-costly-food"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the week ending October 15, short-term inflation in Pakistan surged to 11.38 percent year-on-year, primarily due to a rise in food prices, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among the 51 essential items monitored, 23 (45.10 percent) experienced price increases, seven (13.72 percent) decreased, while 21 (41.18 percent) remained stable. Short-term inflation has been in double digits for several consecutive weeks, largely due to persistent hikes in petroleum prices. The Sensitive Price Index (SPI), which monitors short-term inflation, experienced a slight decline of 0.04 percent week-on-week, indicating fluctuations in both food and non-food prices. The government's refusal to reduce the petroleum levy has led to continuous increases in petrol and diesel prices, which not only exacerbate inflationary pressures but also indirectly boost sales tax collections through higher prices of goods and services. This is known as cost-push inflation, where rising energy costs trigger increases in food prices. Consequently, households face higher consumer prices. The PBS index, which tracks the prices of 51 essential items from 50 markets across 17 cities, is calculated weekly to monitor changes in essential commodity and service prices. The items with the most significant price increases over the previous week were pulse gram (4.97 percent), wheat flour (3.36 percent), chicken (3.31 percent), eggs (0.99 percent), pulse mash (0.98 percent), pulse masoor (0.95 percent), firewood (0.69 percent), shirting (0.58 percent), cooked dal (0.55 percent), diesel (0.47 percent), LPG (0.42 percent), and tea prepared (0.28 percent). Meanwhile, onions (75.19 percent), LPG (68.95 percent), electricity for Q1 (58.59 percent), petrol (49.60 percent), diesel (43.98 percent), wheat flour (35.13 percent), chicken (20.77 percent), chilies powder (15.55 percent), mutton (14.90 percent), beef (12.27 percent), bread plain (9.02 percent), and tea prepared (8.36 percent) recorded the highest annual price increases. Conversely, tomatoes prices fell by 63.65 percent, followed by potatoes (39.93 percent), sugar (23.20 percent), eggs (19.83 percent), salt powder (14.86 percent), pulse masoor (8.97 percent), gur (8.92 percent), and pulse moong (7.83 percent).",
  "summary": "ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation rose to 11.38 per cent year-on-year in the week ending October 15, driven largely by higher food prices , according to official data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday. Of the 51 essential items monitored during the week, prices of 23 commodities (45.10pc) increased, while those of seven items (13.72pc) declined, the data showed.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Dawn Business",
        "title": "Short-term inflation surges to 11.38pc due to costly food",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/short-term-inflation-surges-to-11-38pc-due-to-costly-food",
        "published": "2026-10-16T13:18:16.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}