ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), surged by 9.05 per cent year-on-year for the week ending July 30, mainly due to prices of perishable food products, according to official data released on Friday.

Short-term inflation has started rising again, mainly driven by a steady increase in daily petroleum prices. As a result, the transportation cost has increased over the period of last one week. This increase in transportation prices also resulted in higher prices of essential food items.

On a week-on-week basis, the index decreased by 0.91pc compared to the previous week, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The overall SPI showed a broad-based rise, indicating continued pressure on the cost of living. The increase was largely driven by sharp gains in key items on a year-on-year basis, including tomatoes (228.71pc), onions (95.36pc) wheat flour (78.65pc), diesel (37.42pc), petrol (23.28pc) and beef (13.44pc).

Food inflation remained elevated, with notable increases in the prices of onions, tomatoes, potatoes, mutton, beef and wheat flour.

Despite this limited easing, energy-related costs continued to weigh on household budgets and push up transport expenses across the economy. The SPI has now recorded an increase for the 68th consecutive week. Although the pace of growth has slowed, it reflects sustained pressure on consumers.

This is a cost-push inflation, which means that energy took priority, followed by food. As a result, the average households are under pressure due to higher consumer prices.

The items, whose prices increased the most over the previous week included onions (7.62pc), diesel (4.17pc), eggs (3.16pc), petrol (2.46pc), wheat flour (2pc), potatoes (1.93pc), LPG (1.90pc), pulse gram (1.44pc), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.71pc), pulse mash (0.69pc), pulse masoor (0.64pc) and firewood (0.15pc).

The items whose prices saw a decline week-on-week included tomatoes (22.96pc), chicken (11.20pc), electricity charges for Q1 (9.06pc), bananas (0.70pc), sugar (0.16pc) and pulse moong (0.15pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most were tomatoes (228.71pc), onions (95.36pc), wheat flour (78.65pc), LPG (51.76pc), diesel (37.42pc), petrol (23.28pc), gents sponge chappal (16.69pc), mutton (16.06pc), chilies powder (15.20pc), bananas (14.69pc), beef (13.44pc) and bread plain (9.69pc).

In contrast, the prices of potatoes dropped 30.89pc, followed by pulse gram (19.89pc), chicken (19.56pc), sugar (17.48pc), salt powder (14.09pc), pulse masoor (12.80pc), eggs (8.38pc) and pulse moong (7.38pc).

The index, comprising 51 items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities, is computed weekly to assess the prices of essential commodities and services at shorter intervals. Data showed that the prices of 27 items increased, six decreased, and 18 remained stable compared to the previous week.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2026