Pakistan’s short-term inflation saw a slight relief last week, helped largely by a fall in the prices of key vegetables and some kitchen staples.
Data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed that the Sensitive Price Indicator for the week ending December 11 slipped by 0.03 percent, offering mild breathing room to households already dealing with a long spell of high living costs. On a yearly basis, however, the SPI was 3.90 percent higher.
Vegetable prices bring brief relief
The biggest change came from tomatoes, which continued their downward run with a sharp 16.18 percent fall. Sugar followed with a weekly drop of nearly 5 percent, while onions, potatoes and bananas also became cheaper. Prices of some pulses, gur and LPG dipped too, helping ease pressure on lower-income groups.
The SPI tracks 51 essential items across 17 cities. During the week, prices moved in different directions 23.53 percent of items became more expensive, 19.61 percent became cheaper, while most remained unchanged.
Staples continue climbing
Despite the relief on some items, several everyday essentials saw a rise. Chicken prices went up by 6.19 percent, continuing their recent climb, while wheat flour increased by 2.88 percent. Eggs, cooking oil, ghee, tea, powdered milk and pulse moong also became costlier. Among non-food goods, washing soap and firewood rose slightly.
The yearly comparison showed a much stronger trend of inflation. Sugar topped the list with an annual jump of 30.28 percent, followed by gas charges for the first quarter, which increased by 29.85 percent.
Wheat flour was up 21.59 percent over the year, while gur rose nearly 15 percent. Beef, firewood, powdered milk, chicken, diesel, printed lawn fabric, cooking oil and bananas also recorded notable increases.
However, some items became significantly cheaper compared with last year. Potatoes were down 42.59 percent, tomatoes 40.75 percent, garlic 37.46 percent, onions 30.23 percent and pulse gram 28.95 percent. Tea, electricity charges and salt powder also saw year-on-year declines.
Lower-income groups see mild improvement
The fall in vegetable prices helped reduce the weekly inflation burden for most income groups. The lowest-income households recorded a 0.26 percent drop, while the next three groups also saw marginal declines. Only the highest-income group reported a slight increase of 0.02 percent. Overall, the combined SPI eased to 335.73 points, reflecting a mild improvement from the previous week.
Over the past ten weeks, the weekly SPI has moved up and down, with noticeable rises on October 16 and November 27, and clear declines on November 6 and December 4. The latest figures suggest that while inflation remains a challenge, occasional dips in food prices continue to offer short-lived relief to households.
