- Some consumption items have seen price increases.
- SPI inflation has a rare drop of 1.2%.
- Onions experienced a massive drop of 67.67% prices in annual shift.
Karachi: The sensitive price indicator (SPI), which measures short -term inflation in Pakistan, recorded a 0.35% drop in inflation during the week ending on March 20, in accordance with Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The news indicated that the sharp drop in vegetable prices was the main cause behind the dip; The tomatoes dropped the most at -7.08%, followed by onions (-6.07%), garlic (-5.59%), eggs (-4.64%) and potatoes (-2.5%). There have also been slight drops in the price of necessities such as sugar (-0.87%) and Lipton tea (-1.3%). An important source of domestic fuel, firewood, decreased by 0.6%.
On the other hand, a few consumption items have seen price increases, such as long fabric (+ 1.23%), printed lawn fabric (+ 2.9%), LPG (+ 1.53%) and bananas (+ 1.45%). Daily necessities, including bread (+ 0.55%), beef (+ 0.25%) and curd (+ 0.24%), all have experienced slight price increases.
SPI inflation, on an annual basis, posted a rare drop of 1.2%, reflecting lower prices for key staples. Onions experienced a massive price drop of 67.67%compared to the same period last year, while wheat flour (-35.58%), tomatoes (-29.45%) and electricity costs for the lowest consumption support (-18.92%) also contributed to the downward trend. Fuel prices have also moderate, with diesel declines (-9.37%) and petrol (-8.55%) in annual sliding (annual shift).
Despite the overall drop, several essential products remained much more expensive than a year ago. Women’s sandals jumped 75.09%, powdered milk increased by 25.75%and beef prices climbed by 21.01%. Chicken (+ 18.23%), sugar (+ 18.65%) and vegetable ghee (+ 16.13%) have also shown significant annual price increases, highlighting continuous inflationary pressures in key food categories.
The inflationary impact varied according to the income segments, low -income households noted a higher price drop than richer groups. The lowest consumption quintile recorded a 1.84% drop in annual sliding, while the highest quintile experienced a much smaller drop by 0.49%, suggesting that low -income households can benefit more from recent price adjustments.
Although there are always inflationary pressures, Pakistan has been able to control inflation. According to estimates by the Consumer Price Index Consumer SECURITE CONSURTIVE CARGAGE company (ICC) for March 2025 is expected to increase to three decades, between 0.5% and 1.0% in annual sliding, with a monthly increase of 0.9%. This would bring average inflation for the first nine months of financial year 25 to 5.38%, a sharp drop of 27.06% recorded during the same period last year.