Pakistan’s Weekly Inflation Declines, But Annual SPI Remains Elevated

Islamabad, Pakistan – February 28, 2026 – Pakistan’s Sensitive Price Index (SPI) inflation experienced a slight decrease of 0.54 percent on a week-on-week basis, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday [1]. However, year-on-year inflation, as measured by the SPI, continues to climb, registering a 4.23 percent increase [3].

Weekly Price Movements

The decline in the weekly SPI was primarily driven by falling prices of essential food items. Significant decreases were observed in tomatoes (29.67 percent), potatoes (10.62 percent), chicken (9.03 percent), onions (7.44 percent), eggs (3.43 percent), wheat flour (1.39 percent), bread (1.12 percent), and sugar (0.79 percent) [2]. These reductions offer some relief to consumers, particularly those with lower incomes.

Conversely, prices for certain non-food items increased during the week. Bananas saw the largest increase (4.49 percent), followed by shirting (1.36 percent), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) (0.86 percent), garlic (0.81 percent), long cloth (0.70 percent), mutton (0.63 percent), pulse masoor (0.47 percent), lawn printed (0.44 percent), pulse mash (0.40 percent), powdered milk (0.26 percent), and curd & beef (0.25 percent) [2].

Annual Inflation Trends

Despite the weekly decline, the annual SPI inflation rate of 4.23 percent indicates sustained inflationary pressure on household budgets [3]. Over the past year, the most significant price increases have been in gas charges for Q1 (29.85 percent), wheat flour (29.51 percent), electricity charges for Q1 (17.33 percent), tomatoes (16.83 percent), chilies powder (15.20 percent), LPG (13.60 percent), bananas (11.73 percent), beef (11.69 percent), firewood (11.40 percent), powdered milk (10.16 percent), mutton (8.98 percent), and gur (8.36 percent) [3].

In contrast, prices for potatoes have decreased substantially (52.55 percent), followed by chicken (29.55 percent), garlic (26.18 percent), onions (25.71 percent), pulse gram (23.74 percent), eggs (16.22 percent), salt powder (12.52 percent), and pulse masoor (11.93 percent) [3].

SPI Basket Composition

The PBS data reveals that out of the 51 items monitored in the SPI basket, prices for 13 items (25.49 percent) increased, 14 items (27.45 percent) decreased, and 24 items (47.06 percent) remained stable during the week [2]. The SPI monitors price movements of 51 essential items across 17 urban centers, covering all expenditure groups [4].

Impact on Consumption Groups

The SPI for the lowest consumption group (up to Rs 17,732) decreased by 0.71 percent, indicating some relief for vulnerable segments of the population [4]. SPIs for other consumption groups also showed declines, though at a lesser rate.