Pakistan’s Sensitive Price Index (SPI) slipped 0.64 percent in the week ended December 4, driven by sharp cuts in key perishables, data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.
PBS said prices fell for 15 of the 51 surveyed items, rose for 13 and remained unchanged for 23.
Tomatoes posted the largest weekly decline, down 30.11 percent, followed by onions at 12.41 percent and potatoes at 6.92 percent. Chicken dropped 4.46 percent and sugar 3.31 percent, while diesel and petrol eased 1.67 percent and 0.73 percent respectively. Smaller reductions were recorded in pulse gram, pulse masoor and gur.
Items registering increases included LPG, up 3.50 percent, garlic 1.86 percent and cooking oil (5 litres) 1.54 percent. Eggs, bread, vegetable ghee (1kg), powdered milk, bananas, wheat flour and cigarettes posted marginal rises between 0.25 percent and 0.81 percent.
The combined SPI fell to 335.84 points from 337.99 a week earlier.
Lower-income households saw the sharpest week-on-week relief. SPI for families spending up to Rs17,732 dropped 0.96 percent. The Rs17,732–22,888 expenditure group recorded a 0.88 percent fall, while households spending Rs22,889–29,517 saw a 0.73 percent decline. The index eased 0.69 percent for the Rs29,518–44,175 bracket and 0.53 percent for those above Rs44,175.
On a year-on-year basis, the SPI was up 4.00 percent, led by a 37.49 percent rise in sugar prices. Gas charges for Q1 were higher by 29.85 percent, wheat flour by 17.50 percent and gur by 15.06 percent. Beef, firewood, bananas, powdered milk, diesel, lawn printed fabric, cooking oil and vegetable ghee also showed increases over the past year.
Yearly declines were reported in potatoes (40.47 percent), garlic (38.51 percent), tomatoes (31.51 percent), onions (29.87 percent) and pulse gram (29.54 percent). Lipton tea, pulse mash, electricity charges for Q1 and salt powder also posted year-on-year decreases.
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