Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), fell for the third consecutive week, reaching 16.86% for the period ending August 8, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data.
This decline is primarily attributed to a high base effect from last year, though there was also a slight week-on-week decrease of 0.16%.
Inflation had peaked at a record 48.35% year-on-year in early May 2023 but slowed to 24.4% by late August 2023 before exceeding 40% again in mid-November. The last time it surpassed 40% was in late January.
Over the past week, prices of several items dropped, including onions (4.91%), petrol (3.15%), diesel (2.44%), wheat flour (1.83%), moong pulse (1.81%), chicken (1.57%), bananas (1.36%), LPG (0.90%), sugar (0.59%), potatoes (0.58%), and masoor pulse (0.56%).
Read More: PTA initiates SIM blockade on cancelled ID cards
However, some products saw price increases, such as tomatoes (34.77%), eggs (4.78%), garlic (1.99%), beef (0.88%), cooked beef (0.41%), georgette (0.40%), gur (0.39%), curd (0.32%), and mustard oil (0.28%).
The SPI index, which tracks 51 items from 50 markets in 17 cities, is calculated weekly to monitor the prices of essential goods and services. The latest data revealed that prices for 19 items increased, 13 items decreased, and 19 items remained unchanged compared to the previous week.
