A recent media report has indicated that Pakistan is facing severe inflationary pressure, with the yearly inflation rate hitting a new high of 38.42% in the outgoing week. This increase in inflation is attributed to the rising prices of essential commodities, which have continued to climb.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has released data indicating that the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), which measures short-term inflation, rose to 38.42% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The prices of 34 items increased, 5 decreased, and 12 remained unchanged during the outgoing week.
The rise in prices can be attributed to new taxes imposed and an increase in petroleum prices by the government to fulfill the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for releasing USD 1.1 billion dollars under an already agreed USD 7 billion deal.
The SPI is used to gauge the prices of 51 essential items based on a survey of 50 markets in 17 cities in the country. The survey shows that during the outgoing week, the prices of petrol, cooking oil, ghee, chicken meat, and diesel increased on a weekly basis.
However, the price of tomatoes decreased by 14.27% on a weekly basis, followed by a reduction in the price of onions by 13.48% and eggs by 4.24% on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. Similarly, garlic and flour prices fell by 2.1% and 0.1%, respectively, on a WoW basis.
On a YoY basis, the highest increase was observed in the price of onions, which increased by 433.44%. Chicken meat prices rose by 101.86%, diesel prices by 81.36%, and egg prices by 81.22%. However, the prices of tomatoes and chilli powder decreased on a YoY basis by 65.3% and 7.42%, respectively.
The inflation impact was the highest for the group with a monthly income between Rs 29,518 and Rs 44,175, at 39.65%. The inflation rate for the group with income of up to Rs 17,732 per month on an annual basis was 35.01%, while the inflation rate for the group with income from Rs 17,733 to Rs 22,888 per month was 36.53%.
