Inflation in Pakistan continued its upward trend for the third consecutive week, with the prices of 24 essential commodities increasing, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
During the outgoing week, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) recorded a 0.49% rise, pushing the year-on-year inflation rate to 4.57%. Officials said that the consistent surge reflects growing price pressure on low- and middle-income households.
The PBS report showed that prices of key food items such as potatoes, eggs, onions, flour, tomatoes, and vegetable ghee witnessed notable increases. The weekly data revealed that tomatoes surged by 33.20%, onions by 8.70%, eggs by 2.81%, flour by 1.42%, potatoes by 0.71%, and ghee by 0.63%.
Meanwhile, the prices of eight essential goods — including chicken (down 6.38%), moong lentil (down 0.49%), bananas (down 4.70%), chana dal (down 2.20%), broken basmati rice (down 0.51%), petrol (down 2.09%), and high-speed diesel (down 0.55%) — declined slightly.
A total of 19 essential items remained unchanged during the week.
According to the report, inflation affected lower-income households more severely. For families earning up to Rs17,732 per month, inflation rose by 1.07%, reaching 4.98%. In contrast, for higher-income groups earning above Rs44,176, inflation eased slightly to 3.61%.
Analysts say the data underscores persistent inflationary pressures driven by rising food and utility costs, despite a recent dip in fuel prices.
