Pakistan’s short-term inflation picked up pace during the week ended September 17, with prices of several essential items rising, particularly onions and fuel.
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks weekly price movements, increased 0.49 percent compared with the previous week, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The latest increase came as prices of 19 out of 51 monitored items went up during the week. Prices of nine items declined, while 23 remained unchanged.
On a year-on-year basis, the SPI rose 10.64 percent, showing that the prices of essential goods remained significantly higher than they were a year earlier.
Onions recorded the sharpest annual increase, with their prices rising 117.77 percent. LPG followed with a 60.42 percent increase, while diesel became 54.21 percent more expensive and petrol prices were 48 percent higher than a year earlier.
Electricity charges for the first quarter were up 33.54 percent, while wheat flour prices increased 33.27 percent. Prices of chilli powder, mutton and beef also rose by 16.37 percent, 15.86 percent and 12.88 percent, respectively.
Other food items that became more expensive included bananas, plain bread and fresh milk, with annual increases of 9.24 percent, 8.89 percent and 8.12 percent.
The increase in overall prices was partly offset by cheaper prices of several food items. Potato prices fell 35.31 percent year-on-year, while sugar became 20.95 percent cheaper. Egg and chicken prices declined 19.31 percent and 15.26 percent, respectively.
Prices of salt powder fell 13.96 percent, while gram, masoor and moong pulses recorded declines of 12.42 percent, 11.26 percent and 8.49 percent.
Among key construction and agricultural inputs, the average price of a 50kg bag of Sona Urea stood at Rs4,699, down 0.04 percent from the previous week but 6.94 percent higher than a year earlier.
The average cement price reached Rs1,550 per 50kg bag, increasing 0.28 percent over the week and 10.29 percent from the same period last year.
The SPI covers 51 essential commodities collected from 50 markets across 17 cities. The weekly measure gives policymakers a closer view of changes in the prices faced by consumers.