Pakistan’s Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ending August 21, 2025, recorded a sharp year-on-year (YoY) increase of 2.3% — the steepest rise in 32 weeks.
On a weekly basis, however, the SPI registered a slight decline of 0.01%, driven by lower prices of electricity for Q1, diesel, pulse moong, and potatoes.
“Pakistan’s weekly SPI for the period ended August 21, 2025, decreased 0.01% week-on-week, while it rose 2.3% YoY — the highest annual jump in 32 weeks,” observed Topline Securities. “The largest declines were noted in electricity for Q1 (9.01%), diesel (4.46%), pulse moong (1.71%), and potatoes (1.15%).”
The SPI monitors price changes in 51 essential commodities across 50 markets in 17 cities nationwide.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the slight weekly dip was mainly driven by reduction in electricity charges for Q1 (-9.01%), diesel (-4.46%), pulse moong (-1.71%), potatoes (-1.15%), bananas (-0.92%), pulse mash (-0.88%), pulse gram (-0.66%) and pulse masoor (-0.45%).
These declines helped offset price hikes in several food staples and utilities that continue to exert upward pressure on household budgets.
On the other hand, a significant weekly increase was observed in prices of tomatoes (+19.87%), onions (+10.85%), wheat flour (+9.38%), chicken (+3.63%), garlic (+2.28%), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, +1.39%) and sugar (+1.20%). Other notable increases included gur (+0.82%), eggs (+0.73%), shirting (+0.13%), long cloth (+0.09%) and lawn – printed fabric (+0.08%).
Out of the 51 items tracked by the SPI, prices of 18 items (35.29%) rose during the week, eight items (15.69%) recorded a decline and 25 items (49.02%) remained unchanged.
The YoY comparison paints a more concerning picture. Prices of ladies’ sandals soared 55.62%, followed by gas charges for Q1 (+29.85%), sugar (+26.11%), beef (+13.03%), gur (+12.44%), 2.5kg vegetable ghee (+11.60%), firewood (+11.41%), pulse moong (+11.41%) and 1kg vegetable ghee (+11.05%). Bananas (+9.28%), cooked beef (+8.06%) and lawn – printed fabric (+7.40%) also registered notable increases.
Conversely, several items showed a sharp YoY decline, led by onions (-45.99%), garlic (-25.25%), pulse mash (-23.47%), potatoes (-20.66%), electricity charges for Q1 (-18.12%), branded tea (-17.93%), pulse gram (-16.51%), wheat flour (-9.34%), pulse masoor (-7.42%) and LPG (-4%).
Economists note that while the week-on-week decline offers a temporary relief, the double-digit YoY increase in several essentials underlines the challenges faced by households, especially the lower-income groups. The combination of rising food staples, utilities and footwear prices is likely to keep inflationary pressures alive despite periodic declines in energy and perishable prices.
They suggest that continued monitoring of both domestic supply chains and global commodity prices will be the key to managing inflation volatility, particularly with imported inflation risks tied to global oil and food markets.
Source: Express Tribune
