Weekly inflation increases 0.21% as chicken prices jump 7.25

SPI rises 11.53% YoY; onion prices remain 114.20% higher while diesel and petrol are up 44.50% and 44.05%, respectively Pakistan's short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased 0.21% during the week ended October 1, 2026, while rising 11.53% compared with the corresponding week last year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The combined SPI stood at 370.46, compared with 369.69 in the previous week and 332.17 in the corresponding week of last year. The index, based on 2015-16=100, tracks 51 essential items across 50 markets in 17 cities. During the week, prices of 20 of the 51 monitored items, or 39.21%, increased, while prices of 10 items, or 19.61%, declined. Prices of the remaining 21 items, representing 41.18% of the basket, remained unchanged. Chicken recorded the largest weekly increase of 7.25%, followed by garlic at 1.85%, pulse gram at 1.30%, LPG at 1.17% and eggs at 0.72%. Prices of IRRI-6/9 rice increased 0.55%, onions 0.39%, washing soap 0.33% and wheat flour 0.29%. Long cloth and printed lawn rose 0.19% each. Among items recording weekly declines, diesel prices fell the most at 3.43%, followed by bananas at 1.52%, sugar at 1.05%, potatoes at 0.96% and petrol at 0.65%. Pulse moong became 0.63% cheaper, tomatoes 0.51%, pulse masoor 0.42%, gur 0.12% and powdered milk 0.10%. The PBS data showed that the average price of live broiler chicken increased to Rs365.31 per kg from Rs340.63 a week earlier, while an 11.67kg LPG cylinder rose to Rs5,103.37 from Rs5,044.23. Meanwhile, high-speed diesel declined to Rs402.53 per litre from Rs416.84, petrol fell to Rs389.51 per litre from Rs392.07, and refined sugar dropped to Rs143.52 per kg from Rs145.05. On a year-on-year basis, onion prices recorded the sharpest increase at 114.20%, followed by LPG at 66.59% and electricity charges for the lowest consumption quintile at 58.59%. Diesel prices were 44.50% higher than a year earlier, petrol 44.05%, wheat flour 32.65%, chilli powder 15.55%, mutton 15.07%, chicken 13.60%, beef 12.90%, plain bread 8.96% and fresh milk 8.10% higher. The largest year-on-year decline was recorded in tomato prices, which fell 45.52%, followed by potatoes at 39.54%, sugar at 21.95%, eggs at 17.47%, powdered salt at 14.81%, pulse masoor at 10.92%, pulse gram at 9.90% and pulse moong at 8.20%. Inflation varied across expenditure groups. Weekly SPI increased 0.19% for the lowest consumption quintile, 0.20% for the second, 0.21% for the third, 0.22% for the fourth and 0.21% for the highest quintile. On a year-on-year basis, SPI inflation stood at 9% for the lowest expenditure group, 10.76% for the second quintile, 9.40% for the third, 9.81% for the fourth and 11.99% for the highest expenditure group. The report also showed that the SPI for the lowest consumption quintile averaged 348.87 during the first quarter of FY27, rising 4.07% from the preceding quarter and 9.92% from the corresponding quarter of last year.