Prices spiral as 2025 ends

Pulses, vegetables, fruit, meat and flour become unaffordable

RAWALPINDI:

The outgoing year, 2025, proved to be an inflationary tsunami, devastating household budgets as prices of food and essential commodities surged to record levels and spilt over into the incoming year, 2026.

Pulses, vegetables, fruits, meat, chicken, milk, yoghurt, flour, bread, and even a cup of tea became crushingly expensive, eroding the purchasing power of salaried classes.

Prices of pulses rose by Rs100 per kg, chicken meat by Rs100 to Rs200, vegetables by Rs50, while fruit prices jumped by up to 50 per cent. Employees from scale 1 to 16 saw their purchasing power collapse, while even the middle class was ground down by relentless inflation.

At the start of 2025, chicken was priced between Rs350 and Rs400 per kg, which now stands at Rs650.

Mash lentils rose from Rs450 to Rs550, sugar from Rs160 to Rs200 per kg, flour from Rs150 to Rs170 per kg, while cooking oil and ghee, once priced at Rs480–485 per litre, now cost Rs500 for less than a 900-gram pack. Tea leaves surged from Rs1,700 to Rs2,700 per kg.

Mutton increased from Rs1,800 to Rs2,400 per kg, beef from Rs1,000 to Rs1,400 per kg, milk from Rs200 to Rs230 per litre, and yoghurt from Rs220 to Rs240 per kg.

A coarse flour roti once priced at Rs14 now costs Rs15 with reduced weight, forcing consumers to buy two instead of one. Thin rotis rose to Rs20-30, naan from Rs25 to Rs35, and paratha from Rs40 to Rs60. A cup of tea climbed from Rs70 to Rs100, while samosas jumped from Rs40 to Rs60.

Chickpeas rose from Rs300 to Rs350, white chickpeas from Rs400 to Rs440, red beans from Rs390 to Rs450, rice from Rs250 to Rs400 per kg. Fruits were also engulfed by the inflation wave, with no fruit available below Rs200 per kg.