ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), fell by 1.23pc year-on-year for the week ending July 10, primarily due to a decline in the prices of perishable food items in the domestic market.

According to official data released on Friday, the SPI-based inflation has shown a mixed trend over the past six weeks, with partial declines largely driven by reduced prices of vegetables, chicken, wheat flour, and pulses.

However, on a week-on-week basis, the index rose by 0.95pc due to increases in the prices of several essential commodities.

A notable rise in the retail prices of sugar, petrol, diesel, and meat contributed to the recent weekly increase, reversing the declining trend observed earlier. Rising transport costs also pushed up the prices of tomatoes, onions, and potatoes. Sugar was reportedly retailing between Rs185 and Rs200 per kg in the market.

Items that recorded the highest weekly price increases included chicken (22.61pc), tomatoes (13.45pc), onions (6.25pc), potatoes (2.79pc), garlic (2.36pc), sugar (1.90pc), gur (1.89pc), and broken basmati rice (0.84pc).

Conversely, items that saw weekly price declines included LPG (2.56pc), mustard oil (0.81pc), pulse moong (0.41pc), cooking oil (5-litre pack) (0.20pc), and both wheat flour and vegetable ghee (2.5kg), which dipped by 0.02pc each.

On an annual basis, the steepest price increases were recorded in ladies’ sandals (55.62pc), sugar (29.17pc), pulse moong (18.89pc), beef (14.71pc), chicken (13.77pc), gur (12.66pc), vegetable ghee (12.46pc for both 1kg and 2.5kg), firewood (10.44pc), powdered milk (9.41pc), printed lawn fabric (7.89pc), and shirting (7.31pc).

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2025