Weekly inflation hits years’ low at 4.16pc amid mixed price trends

A street vendor is selling salad at Liaqatabad area to earn daily wages.— ONLINE/File

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s weekly inflation fell to years low of 4.16 per cent year-on-year (YoY) for the week ending November 14, down from 13.89 per cent the previous week, official data revealed.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks short-term price changes for essential items, indicated a 0.55 per cent week-on-week increase, despite annualised inflation came down.

The SPI monitors 51 key items in 50 markets across 17 cities, noting that prices for 24 items increased, six decreased, and 21 remained steady compared with the prior week. Among items seeing price hike were tomatoes 16.9 per cent, eggs 5.01 per cent, garlic 4.3 per cent, LPG 4.1 per cent, firewood 2.1 per cent, mustard oil and vegetable ghee by 1.9 per cent each. Similarly, sugar price increased by 1.34 per cent, potatoes 1.26 per cent and georgette by 1.18 percent over the previous week. Whereas, the cost of gram pulse dropped by 2.5 per cent and mash pulse by 0.87 per cent.

PBS data highlighted that inflation affected income groups differently. Households earning less than Rs17,732 per month saw a 0.83 per cent weekly increase in prices, while higher-income groups; those earning above Rs44,175, experienced a 0.44 per cent increase. However, year-on-year inflation climbed by 2.33 per cent for the lowest income earners and 4.75 per cent for the highest income earners.

Certain commodities registered significant price hikes compared to last year with gram pulse prices increased 74.5 per cent, moong pulse 39 per cent, powder milk 26 per cent, beef and onions by 23 per cent each. Likewise, garlic was costlier by 17.4 per cent, gas prices for the lowest consumer slab surging by 15.5 per cent, shirting 15.2 per cent, and mutton and firewood by 14 per cent each.

Meanwhile, some essential items showed notable decreases over the year. Wheat flour prices dropped by 35 per cent, powdered chilies 20 per cent, diesel 14 per cent, petrol 12 per cent, Lipton tea 11 per cent, basmati broken rice by 8.0 per cent, tomatoes 6.6 per cent, masoor pulse 5.7 per cent, bread 5.6 per cent, electricity charges for the lowest slab by 5.1 per cent and cooking oil was cheaper by 4.9 per cent over last year.