SPI Rises 0.38% Weekly, Falls 1.61% Yearly

Islamabad, July 18, 2025, 07:50 PM PKT — Pakistan’s short-term inflation has surged by 0.38% week-on-week, yet dropped 1.61% year-on-year, according to the latest data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), covering 51 essential items across 17 cities. Prices of 22 items (43.14%) rose, 9 items (17.65%) fell, and 20 items (39.22%) held steady, with sharp increases in chicken (8.31%), eggs (5.87%), diesel (4.15%), petrol (2.00%), onions (1.76%), garlic (1.70%), and potatoes (1.46%), alongside firewood, cooked daal, mutton, powdered milk, and cigarettes.

Relief came with tomatoes plummeting 9.34%, bananas (1.57%), liquefied petroleum gas (0.95%), and pulses like pulse gram and pulse moong, plus wheat flour, cooking oil, sugar, and rice IRRI-6/9 seeing slight drops. Year-on-year, onions (48.65%), tomatoes (48.44%), garlic (23.17%), and wheat flour (22.56%) fell sharply, though ladies sandals, sugar, pulse moong, beef, and vegetable ghee rose. Income impacts show the lowest group up 0.13% weekly and down 2.17% yearly, while the highest group rose 0.46% weekly and fell 0.45% yearly. Urea climbed 0.21% to Rs4,429 per 50 kg bag (down 7.30% yearly), and cement dipped 0.71% to Rs1,402 per 50 kg bag (down 4.30% yearly).

The Short-Term Inflation (SPI), tracked weekly by PBS, offers critical insights into price trends. Web context reveals inflation monitoring efforts, while posts found on X show concern—some note relief signs, others dread cost pressures. Critically, the narrative of “inflation moderation” may mask uneven impacts—web data hints at data gaps, and X sentiment suggests distrust in sustained stability, pointing to lingering unease.