Weekly inflation drops 1.92pc

KARACHI: Pakistan’s short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), posted its steepest weekly decline in nearly a year, falling 1.92 per cent in the week ended April 24, 2025, driven by sharp reductions in electricity and food prices, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released on Thursday.

According to brokerage firm Arif Habib Limited, the reading is “the lowest-ever YoY SPI” since data collection began.The drop was led by a 19.17 per cent cut in electricity charges for the first quarterly slab, followed by a slide in chicken prices by 11.75 per cent and wheat flour by 5.68 per cent, official data showed. Other notable declines included garlic (4.66 per cent), bananas (3.51 per cent), onions (1.93 per cent), and liquefied petroleum gas (1.09 per cent).

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the SPI was down 3.52 per cent, continuing a declining trend in short-term inflation. This annual fall was mainly driven by plunges in prices of onions (69.78 per cent), tomatoes (40.77 per cent), garlic (31.96 per cent), wheat flour (30.7 per cent), and electricity charges (29.4 per cent). Prices of petrol and diesel also declined by 13.24 per cent and 10.85 per cent, respectively.

Despite the overall drop, some food and clothing items recorded modest gains. Potatoes jumped 6.94 per cent week-on-week, while eggs and salt powder edged up 0.66 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively. On the non-food side, cigarette prices rose 0.51 per cent.

The SPI tracks the prices of 51 essential items across 17 cities to gauge short-term inflation. For the week under review, prices of 11 items increased, 18 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

Among income groups, the middle-income quintile (Q2: Rs17,733-Rs22,888) saw the biggest relief with a 2.33 per cent week-on-week decline in prices, while the wealthiest group (Q5: above Rs44,175) recorded a 1.59 per cent decrease.