Weekly inflation up by 0.97pc

ISLAMABAD, Mar 27 (APP):The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based weekly inflation, increased by 0.97 percent during the week ended on March 26, 2026 for the combined consumption group, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
According to PBS data, SPI for the week under review for the group rose to 345.45 points during the week under review as compared to 342.13 points recorded in the previous week. On year-on-year basis, the SPI increased by 8,24 percent.
The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16 = 100 covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.
The SPI for the lowest consumption group (up to Rs 17,732) increased by 0.97 percent to 329.39 points from 326.22 points. The SPI for consumption groups of Rs 17,733–22,888; Rs 22,889–29,517; Rs 29,518–44,175; and above Rs 44,175 increased by 1.09 percent, 0.86 percent, 0.79 percent and 0.94 percent, respectively.
During the week, prices of 23 items (45.10 percent) increased, 6 items (11.76 percent) decreased, while 22 items (43.14 percent) remained stable.
Major increase was observed in the prices of onions which surged by 18.10 percent, followed by tomatoes 11.38 percent, LPG 10.05 percent, chicken 8.70 percent, potatoes 8.11 percent and electricity charges for Q1 which rose by 6.11 percent. Prices of eggs, garlic, mutton and beef also recorded notable increase during the week.
On the other hand, prices of bananas declined by 4.50 percent, wheat flour by 1.00 percent, sugar by 0.29 percent, gur by 0.20 percent, while prices of pulse moong and rice IRRI-6/9 decreased by 0.17 percent each.
On year-on-year basis, the SPI for the week under review increased by 8.24 percent compared to the corresponding week of last year.
During the period, major increase was recorded in the prices of LPG by 34.73 percent, diesel 29.94 percent, gas charges for Q1 29.85 percent, wheat flour 25.76 percent, petrol 25.75 percent and onions 25.07 percent. Prices of chilies powder, beef, mutton, powdered milk, rice basmati broken and gur also increased.
Meanwhile, prices of potatoes declined by 45.71 percent, pulse gram by 17.54 percent, eggs by 13.63 percent, garlic by 12.92 percent, salt powder by 12.55 percent, chicken by 11.94 percent, pulse masoor by 11.62 percent and sugar by 11.34 percent over the same period of last year, PBS reported.