The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported a 1.70 percent decrease in the Sensitive Price Index (SPI)-based inflation for the week ending on October 19, 2023.

However, the year-on-year trend shows a significant increase of 35.45 percent, primarily driven by rising prices in categories such as electricity charges (136.89 percent), gas charges (108.38 percent), cigarettes (94.46 percent), chili powder (84.11 percent), basmati broken rice (81.74 percent), wheat flour (80.73 percent), irri-6/9 rice (71.43 percent), sugar (66.29 percent), gur (61.50 percent), powdered salt (57.40 percent), and Lipton tea (56.27 percent). Conversely, there were price decreases in tomatoes (45.75 percent), onions (23.76 percent), gram pulse (5.63 percent), mustard oil (2.12 percent), and vegetable ghee (0.62 percent).

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Out of 51 items, prices of 14 items (27.45 percent) increased, 24 items (47.06 percent) decreased, and 13 items (25.49 percent) remained stable during the week. Items that saw an increase in their average prices included eggs (3.44 percent), powdered salt (2.63 percent), shirting (2.18 percent), mutton (1.01 percent), beef with bone (0.84 percent), cooked beef (0.72 percent), prepared tea (0.34 percent), cooked daal (0.34 percent), potatoes (0.25 percent), and 40 kg of whole firewood (0.22 percent).

On the other hand, some items experienced a decrease in their average prices during the week, including super petrol (12.31 percent), onions (8.45 percent), chicken (5.46 percent), hi-speed diesel (4.68 percent), masoor pulse (3.38 percent), sugar (3.07 percent), gram pulse (2.42 percent), garlic (2.24 percent), basmati broken rice (2.17 percent), moong pulse (2.10 percent), irri-6/9 rice (1.59 percent), bananas (1.56 percent), tomatoes (1.41 percent), LPG (1.17 percent), and 20 kg bags of wheat flour (1.16 percent) compared to the previous week.