SPI marks steepest rise in 32 weeks
Economists note that while the week-on-week decline offers a temporary relief, the double-digit YoY increase in several essentials underlines the challenges faced by households, especially the lower-income groups. Photo: file
Pakistan's Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ended August 21, 2025 rose sharply by 2.3% year-on-year (YoY), the sharpest annual increase in 32 weeks.
However, when compared with the previous week, the SPI recorded a marginal decline of 0.01%. The weekly fall was mainly attributed to lower prices of electricity for Q1, diesel, pulse moong and potatoes.
"Pakistan's weekly SPI for the period ended August 21, 2025 decreased 0.01% week-on-week while it was up 2.3% YoY; the YoY rate is the highest after 32 weeks," noted Topline Securities. "A major decrease is observed in prices of electricity for Q1 (9.01%), diesel (4.46%), pulse moong (1.71%) and potatoes (1.15%)."
The weekly SPI tracks movements in prices of 51 essential commodities across 50 markets in 17 cities.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the slight weekly dip was mainly driven by reduction in electricity charges for Q1 (-9.01%), diesel (-4.46%), pulse moong (-1.71%), potatoes (-1.15%), bananas (-0.92%), pulse mash (-0.88%), pulse gram (-0.66%) and pulse masoor (-0.45%).
These declines helped offset price hikes in several food staples and utilities that continue to exert upward pressure on household budgets.
On the other hand, a significant weekly increase was observed in prices of tomatoes (+19.87%), onions (+10.85%), wheat flour (+9.38%), chicken (+3.63%), garlic (+2.28%), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, +1.39%) and sugar (+1.20%). Other notable increases included gur (+0.82%), eggs (+0.73%), shirting (+0.13%), long cloth (+0.09%) and lawn – printed fabric (+0.08%).
Out of the 51 items tracked by the SPI, prices of 18 items (35.29%) rose during the week, eight items (15.69%) recorded a decline and 25 items (49.02%) remained unchanged.
The YoY comparison paints a more concerning picture. Prices of ladies' sandals soared 55.62%, followed by gas charges for Q1 (+29.85%), sugar (+26.11%), beef (+13.03%), gur (+12.44%), 2.5kg vegetable ghee (+11.60%), firewood (+11.41%), pulse moong (+11.41%) and 1kg vegetable ghee (+11.05%). Bananas (+9.28%), cooked beef (+8.06%) and lawn – printed fabric (+7.40%) also registered notable increases.
Conversely, several items showed a sharp YoY decline, led by onions (-45.99%), garlic (-25.25%), pulse mash (-23.47%), potatoes (-20.66%), electricity charges for Q1 (-18.12%), branded tea (-17.93%), pulse gram (-16.51%), wheat flour (-9.34%), pulse masoor (-7.42%) and LPG (-4%).
Economists note that while the week-on-week decline offers a temporary relief, the double-digit YoY increase in several essentials underlines the challenges faced by households, especially the lower-income groups. The combination of rising food staples, utilities and footwear prices is likely to keep inflationary pressures alive despite periodic declines in energy and perishable prices.
They suggest that continued monitoring of both domestic supply chains and global commodity prices will be the key to managing inflation volatility, particularly with imported inflation risks tied to global oil and food markets.