Fuel price hike pushes weekly inflation up

PAKISTAN: Pakistan's short-term inflation indicator showed a notable increase as the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) increased by 6.44% year on year during the week ending March 11, 2026.

The increase was mainly due to a sharp increase in the prices of energy products and essential food items. The data was released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

On a week-on-week basis, the SPI increased by 1.89%. The SPI increased sharply due to a notable jump in the prices of key household items.

The increase was mainly due to a sharp increase in the prices of petroleum products following recent changes in fuel prices due to the US-Israel war against Iran. Among the key items, petrol prices increased by 20.60%, while diesel prices rose by 19.54% compared to the previous week.

Similarly, the price of liquefied petroleum gas increased by 12.13%, which is an essential item for households using gas for cooking.

Food items also showed notable increases during the week. The price of onions increased by 9.63%, bananas by 1.44%, while wheat flour increased by 1.28%. Other items also showed increases during the week. Chicken increased by 0.66%, pulse mash increased by 0.55%, firewood increased by 0.38%, while pulse gram (0.10%), fresh milk (0.08%), and cooked beef (0.02%).

However, some commodities have also seen their prices fall. The price of tomatoes went down by 3.66%, followed by potatoes, whose price reduced by 2.86%. Other commodities whose prices reduced include garlic by 0.42%, IRRI 6/9 rice and pulse masoor by 0.19% each, mustard oil by 0.16%, pulse moong by 0.12%, and sugar by 0.09%.

Other commodities whose prices increased during the year include chilly powder by 15.20%, beef by 12.00%, powdered milk by 10.10%, mutton by 9.61%, gur by 7.10%, broken basmati rice by 6.51%, and cooked beef by 5.17%.

Some commodities whose prices reduced during the year include potato by 51.92%, chicken by 25.92%, eggs by 23.76%, tomatoes by 23.02%. The price of pulse gram reduced by 19.76%, garlic by 18.25%, powdered salt by 12.52%, and sugar by 12.02%.