Pakistan SPI: Short-Term Inflation Eases Amid Perishable Price Drop

⁢ Updated June 06, 2025
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Islamabad — Pakistan’s short-term inflation experienced a slight reprieve, decreasing by 0.02% year-on-year, according to the Sensitive ⁢Price index (SPI) for the week ending June 5. This marginal easing is ⁤primarily attributed to reduced retail prices⁣ for perishable goods, offering some relief after three consecutive weeks of increases.

official data released Thursday indicated⁤ that while the overall trend showed a slight enhancement, the SPI still ‍edged up by 0.02% compared to the previous week. The decrease in inflation is largely due to lower prices for vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, and onions.

Conversely, previous weeks saw upward pressure on inflation due to important price hikes in essential items such as sugar,⁤ meat, and chicken. Market prices for sugar had‍ soared to between 190 and⁤ 200 rupees per kilogram.

The overall slowdown in short-term inflation is also a result of a higher ‍base from the previous year. Excluding wheat flour and certain perishable items, prices for most products remained relatively stable.

While weekly inflation peaked at 48.35% year-on-year in early May 2023, it later decelerated to 24.4% by late August ⁢2023 before climbing again, surpassing 40% during the week ending Nov. 16, 2023.

Items experiencing ⁢the most ⁢significant week-on-week price decreases included chicken (11.22%), garlic (3.71%), LPG (0.76%), ‍1kg vegetable ghee (0.24%), 2.5kg vegetable ghee (0.10%),and 5-liter cooking ‍oil‍ (0.02%).

Conversely, items with notable week-on-week price⁣ increases were tomatoes (16.94%), potatoes (11.52%), onions⁣ (5.21%), bananas ⁣(1.57%),eggs (1.34%), sugar (1.24%),⁤ broken basmati rice (1.02%), gur (0.81%), masoor pulse (0.65%), fresh milk (0.47%), mash pulse (0.46%), gram pulse (0.44%), and petrol (0.41%).

Annually, the most ample price increases ⁤were observed in ladies’ sandals (55.62%), eggs⁤ (35.36%), moong pulse (31.74%), powdered milk (23.82%), sugar (23.51%), beef (17.51%), bananas (17.29%), gram pulse (15.91%), chicken (15.88%), LPG (15.31%), 2.5kg vegetable ghee (13.56%),and 1kg vegetable ghee (12.49%).

In contrast, significant annual price drops were seen in onions (64.90%), Q1 electricity charges⁤ (36.54%), garlic (27.79%), potatoes (23.15%), tomatoes (18.10%), mash pulse (17.99%), Lipton tea (17.93%), wheat flour (14.10%), chili powder (5.74%), diesel (5.68%), ‍Irri rice (5.56%), masoor pulse (5.47%), and petrol (5.41%).

What’s ⁢next

Market analysts⁤ will⁣ continue to monitor the SPI and ‍its components to assess the sustainability of this downward trend and its potential impact on overall consumer prices in the coming weeks.