Pakistan’s inflation falls 0.03 in last week of Jan due to lower food prices
Year-on-year, the Sensitive Price Indicator went up by 4.52%
Business Desk
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The biggest week-on-week decrease was observed in the prices of potatoes
Pakistan’s inflation decreased by 0.03% in the last week of January due to lower food prices, according to official data.
On a year-on-year basis, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) went up by 4.52%.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the biggest week-on-week decrease was observed in the prices of potatoes (7.81%), onions (6.66%), salt (1.36%), wheat flour (1.17%), and pulse masoor (0.75%).
The items whose prices saw the biggest increase included tomatoes (7.53%), chicken (3.25%), bananas (3.07%), LPG (1.56%), and pulse mash.
Year-on-year, the biggest increase was observed in the prices of eggs (42.85%), tomatoes (41.14%), wheat flour (38.29%), gas (29.85%), and chili (13.30%).
Pakistan tracks inflation weekly and monthly. The former is called the SPI, while the latter is tracked through the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The SPI, which tracks the prices of 51 essential commodities from 50 markets across 17 cities, is used as a key gauge of short-term inflation trends.
During the week from January 16-22, out of 51 items, the prices of 18 (35.29%) items increased, 09 (17.65%) items decreased and 24 (47.06%) items remained stable.
In December, the CPI or headline inflation cooled to 5.6% after staying over 6% during the previous two months.
The number is expected to edge higher in January, driven mainly by rising food prices, according to a research note by Topline Securities.
Topline estimates headline Consumer Price Index inflation at 5.75% to 6.25% year-on-year in January, compared with 5.61% in December and 2.40% in January last year. On a month-on-month basis, inflation is projected at 0.57%.
Earlier this week, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) kept the key policy rate unchanged at 10.5% over inflation concerns.
SBP Governor Jameel Ahmed said core inflation has persisted around 7.4% for the past few months, while the outlook suggests it will cross 7% in some months of the second half of fiscal year 2026.
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