Pakistan's Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) – a short-term inflation gauge – declined 0.36% week-on-week (WoW) for the period ended January 30, 2025, marking the fifth consecutive weekly decrease.
The drop was primarily driven by falling prices of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, eggs and pulse gram, among other essential commodities.
However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the SPI recorded a 0.44% increase, though it was the lowest in nearly seven years, signalling easing inflationary pressures. Bananas, sugar and chicken led the surge.
Analysts attribute the declining trend to seasonal factors, improved supply chains and relatively stable energy prices. However, they caution that upcoming policy decisions and global commodity trends could influence inflation dynamics.
"The weekly SPI decreased for the fifth consecutive week by 0.36% WoW," wrote Topline Research.
The decline of 0.36% indicated a drop in prices of essential commodities, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The most significant decrease was observed in tomatoes (-16.18%), onions (-12.32%), potatoes (-7.66%), eggs (-5.09%) and pulse gram (-3.67%). Additionally, prices of LPG (-3.21%), pulse masoor (-1.32%), Q1 electricity charges (-0.99%), wheat flour (-0.95%), garlic (-0.41%) and firewood (-0.27%) also dipped.
Conversely, certain commodities saw a price hike, with bananas (+4.60%), sugar (+3.39%), and chicken (+0.93%) leading the surge. Other notable increases were recorded in broken Basmati rice (+0.70%), five-litre cooking oil (+0.40%), one-kg vegetable ghee (+0.32%), beef (+0.28%) and 2.5kg vegetable ghee (+0.26%).
Of the 51 tracked items, prices of nine items rose, 16 items declined and 26 items remained stable.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ