Pakistan’s inflation remained above the 40% barrier for the seventh consecutive week, reaching 45.49% YoY for the week ended on April 6, 2023, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PSB) on Friday.
The YoY trend shows an increase mainly due to rising prices of cigarettes (165.88%), wheat flour (131.72%), gas charges for Q1 (108.38%), diesel (102.84%), eggs (98.34%), tea Lipton (97.63%), rice basmati broken (84.92%), bananas (82.23%), petrol (81.17%), rice irri-6/9 (80.61%), pulse moong (68.14%), potatoes (65.95%), pulse mash (56.70%), and onions (55.75%). However, there was a decrease in the prices of tomatoes (50.39%) and powdered chillies (6.48%).
The SPI for the week under review recorded a week-on-week increase of 0.92%. A major increase was observed in the prices of food items, such as chicken (15.87%), sugar (13.48%), potatoes (5.11%), bananas (4.95%), wheat flour (3.10%), gur (2.12%), eggs (1.26%), milk fresh (1.24%), and non-food item, long cloth (1.95%). On the other hand, a decrease was observed in the prices of tomatoes (14.96%), onions (12.66%), LPG (3.73%), pulse gram (1.20%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.71%), garlic (0.16%), and mustard oil (0.03%).
The SPI comprises 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country and is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movement of essential commodities at shorter intervals of time to review the price situation in the country. During the week, out of 51 items, the prices of 27 (52.94%) items increased, 7 (13.73%) items decreased, and 17 (33.33%) items remained stable.
In conclusion, Pakistan’s inflation remains at an alarming level, with prices of essential commodities rising drastically. The government needs to take immediate steps to address this issue and provide relief to the common people.
