Inflation Edges Up Slightly: SPI Increase Reported

ISLAMABAD: According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the Sensitive Price Index (SPI)-based inflation saw a marginal rise of 0.15% for the week concluding on April 30, 2025. This uptick is primarily attributed to increases in the prices of several essential commodities, including eggs (5.55%), chicken (1.84%), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) (1.03%), and sugar (0.26%).

The year-over-year (YoY) analysis reveals a decrease of 2.41%. This decline is largely due to reduced prices in onions (69.09%), garlic (33.73%), electricity charges for the first quarter (29.40%), tomatoes (27.48%), wheat flour (26.64%), potatoes (21.63%), Lipton tea (16.98%), maash (16.69%), chili powder (13.45%), petrol (11.62%), and diesel (8.19%). However, notable increases were observed in the prices of women’s sandals (55.62%), moong (28.67%), powdered milk (22.26%), pulse gram (22.09%), beef (18.22%), bananas (18.18%), sugar (16.54%), 2.5 kg vegetable ghee (14.93%), 1 kg vegetable ghee (13.88%), firewood (10.35%), lawn printed fabric (10.33%), and Georgette fabric (9.90%).

During the examined week, the price distribution across 51 items showed that 12 (23.53%) items experienced an increase in price, 11 (11.57%) items saw a decrease, while the prices of 28 (54.90%) items remained unchanged.

The SPI was recorded at 309.31 points, compared to 308.86 points in the preceding week.

The SPI for various consumption groups, categorized by income, showed the following increases: up to Rs17,732 (0.07%), Rs17,732-Rs22,888 (0.10%), Rs22,889-Rs29,517 (0.11%), Rs29,518-Rs44,175 (0.14%), and above Rs44,175 (0.17%).

Items that experienced price increases during the week include eggs (5.55%), chicken (1.84%), LPG (1.03%), gur (0.59%), plain bread (0.55%), bananas (0.54%), moong (0.52%), sugar (0.26%), broken basmati rice (0.18%), beef with bone (0.10%), potatoes (0.06%), and long cloth 57″ Gul Ahmed/Al Karam (0.04%).