Tomatoes Fall 23% in a Week but Flour, Gram and Chicken Rise Again as Pakistan’s Weekly Inflation Stands at 11.38% a Year

The bazaar sent mixed signals this week. The latest weekly inflation Pakistan figures, released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday, show the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) easing by just 0.04 per cent in the week ended October 15. Measured against the same week last year, though, short-term inflation is running at 11.38 per cent — the weekly shop still costs a good deal more than it did twelve months ago.

Tomatoes lead the fall

The sharpest relief came from tomatoes, down 23.05 per cent in a single week. Onions fell 4.90 per cent and bananas 2.59 per cent, while petrol eased 0.70 per cent. Broken basmati rice slipped 0.65 per cent, sugar 0.62 per cent and gur 0.36 per cent. For once, the salad side of the thali got cheaper.

Bread and the curry pot cost more

The staples moved the other way. Pulse gram rose 4.97 per cent, wheat flour 3.36 per cent and chicken 3.31 per cent. Eggs were up 0.99 per cent, pulse mash 0.98 per cent and pulse masoor 0.95 per cent, with diesel adding 0.47 per cent and LPG 0.42 per cent. Of the 51 items the PBS tracks, 23 became dearer, seven became cheaper and 21 did not move at all.

The year tells a harder story

Over twelve months the increases are steep: onions up 75.19 per cent, LPG 68.95 per cent, first-quarter electricity charges 58.59 per cent, petrol 49.60 per cent, diesel 43.98 per cent and wheat flour 35.13 per cent. Chicken is 20.77 per cent dearer than a year ago. Against that, tomatoes are down 63.65 per cent year-on-year, potatoes 39.93 per cent and sugar 23.20 per cent. A 50kg bag of Sona urea held steady at Rs4,780, while the average cement bag rose 0.27 per cent to Rs1,600. The SPI is compiled from 50 markets in 17 cities, and this week’s message for households is a familiar one: a small weekly dip, but no real cheapening of the monthly shop yet.