Weekly inflation edges up as chicken prices shoot higher

Pakistan’s short-term inflation picked up again during the week ending November 13, with the Sensitive Price Indicator showing a rise of 0.53 percent. The latest figures from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics suggest that the jump was mainly linked to a sudden spike in chicken prices, which caught many households off guard.

Chicken leads the surge

Chicken became noticeably costlier across many markets, climbing more than 20 percent in just a week. Tomatoes also saw a strong upward swing, adding more than 12 percent to their price. A mild rise was noted in bananas, LPG, potatoes, cooking oil, shirting cloth, and several kitchen staples including masoor. Small increases were also recorded in beef, mutton, and firewood.

Shoppers did find some relief, though. Onion prices dropped more than 6 percent after several weeks of volatility. There were also price cuts in pulse gram, salt powder, gur, sugar, wheat flour, mash, and moong. Out of 51 items tracked by the bureau, 15 became more expensive, 12 became cheaper, and the rest stayed unchanged.

Yearly trends paint a mixed picture

On a year-on-year basis, the SPI rose 4.15 percent. Ladies’ sandals, sugar, and gas charges for the first quarter were among the biggest contributors to the annual rise. Wheat flour, gur, beef, firewood, bananas, vegetable ghee, diesel, cooking oil, and mutton also cost more than they did last year.

At the same time, garlic, gram, electricity charges for the first quarter, tomatoes, potatoes, tea, mash, LPG, masoor, and IRRI-6 and 9 rice varieties all registered sharp declines compared to last year.

Impact varies across income groups

The weekly change in prices did not hit all income groups equally. Lower-income households saw smaller increases, while higher-income groups experienced a slightly stronger rise in their weekly index.

In other monitored items, the average price of Sona urea rose to Rs4,368 per 50 kg bag. While it is higher than last week, it remains almost 5 percent cheaper than the same period last year. Cement averaged Rs1,389 per 50 kg bag, only slightly higher week-on-week and more than 3 percent lower than last year.

The SPI tracks essential items across 17 cities and provides a weekly snapshot of inflationary pressure, giving policymakers an early sense of how prices are shifting at the consumer level.