ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), increased 4.52 per cent year-on-year in the week ending Jan 29, owing to an increase in the retail price of tomatoes and pulses in the domestic market.

The SPI-based inflation has been on an upward trend for the past 26 consecutive weeks. The increase is mainly driven by a surge in prices of perishable products, as well as vegetable ghee and chicken.

It declined by 0.03pc from the previous week, official data showed on Friday.

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included tomatoes (7.53pc), chicken (3.25pc), bananas (3.07pc), LPG (1.56pc), pulse mash (1.49pc), pulse gram (1.31pc), chilies powder (0.66pc), pulse moong (0.61pc), firewood (0.37pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.32pc), shirting (0.25pc) and cigarettes (0.24pc).

The items whose prices declined week-on-week included potatoes (7.81pc), onions (6.66pc), salt powder (1.36pc), wheat flour (1.17pc), masoor pulse (0.75pc), eggs (0.30pc), gur (0.24pc) and basmati rice broken (0.08pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included eggs (42.85pc), tomatoes (41.14pc), wheat flour (38.29pc), gas charges for Q1 (29.85pc), chilies powder (13.30pc), beef (12.65pc), firewood (11.54pc), LPG (11.31pc), powdered milk (10pc), gur (9.25pc), shirting (8.49pc) and bananas (8.33pc). In contrast, the prices of potatoes dropped 47.35pc, followed by garlic (35.89pc), onions (31.40pc), pulse gram (26.16pc), tea lipton (17.79pc), chicken (14.88pc), pulse mash (10.94pc), salt powder (9.80pc), diesel (1.27pc) and petrol (0.95pc).

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2026