Pakistan's weekly inflation stays above 11% as tomato prices jump nearly 35% in a week
Pakistan's short-term inflation stood at 11.32% year-on-year in the week ended 29 October, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday, even as the weekly index eased 0.35% on lower electricity, chicken and egg prices.
Pakistan's short-term inflation remained in double digits in the latest weekly reading, standing at 11.32 per cent higher than a year earlier for the week ended 29 October 2026, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday. The figure, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), shows that the cost of everyday essentials is still rising sharply on an annual basis even though the index itself edged down slightly during the week.
The SPI fell by 0.35 per cent compared with the previous week, offering households a small measure of relief after several weeks of increases. The previous week's annual rate had been 11.85 per cent, so the latest reading is a modest improvement on that figure, but it keeps short-term inflation above 11 per cent for another week running.
The indicator tracks the prices of 51 essential commodities collected from 50 markets across 17 cities, and it is watched closely as an early signal of where broader inflation is heading. Of the 51 items monitored in the latest week, prices rose for 15, fell for 12 and were unchanged for the remaining 24, the PBS data showed.
Tomatoes drove the week's increases by a wide margin. Their price jumped 34.91 per cent in a single week, the largest rise among all items in the basket, putting fresh pressure on household food budgets. Potatoes rose 3.27 per cent, diesel by 2.53 per cent and pulse gram by 2.11 per cent, while plain bread, onions, fresh milk, curd, vegetable ghee and firewood also became slightly more expensive.
On the other side of the ledger, electricity charges for the first consumption quintile fell 3.92 per cent during the week, the biggest decline recorded. Chicken prices dropped 2.95 per cent, eggs became 2.81 per cent cheaper, wheat flour eased 0.83 per cent and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) slipped 0.73 per cent, helping to pull the overall weekly index down.
The annual picture, however, remains stark. Compared with the same week last year, LPG prices have more than doubled, rising 106.86 per cent — the largest year-on-year increase in the basket. Electricity charges for the first consumption quintile are up 52.38 per cent, diesel is 45.13 per cent dearer and petrol 43.61 per cent dearer, while wheat flour costs 34.87 per cent more than it did a year ago.
By income group, the burden has not fallen evenly. The annual increase was 8.07 per cent for the lowest expenditure group and 12.13 per cent for the highest, taking the combined year-on-year rise to 11.32 per cent. For lower-income households, which spend a larger share of their income on food and fuel, even small weekly swings in items such as tomatoes and cooking fuel are felt quickly.
The persistence of double-digit short-term inflation matters because it feeds directly into the monthly inflation figures and into expectations about interest rates and household spending. Energy costs have been a repeated driver: petroleum and diesel prices have climbed through the year, and the latest data show fuel still running more than 40 per cent above last year's levels despite the week's small declines elsewhere.
What happens next will depend on the coming weeks' readings. If food prices stabilise and the weekly declines in electricity and poultry hold, the annual rate could ease further from its recent range. But with winter demand approaching and fuel prices still elevated, the next PBS release will be watched for whether this week's dip is the start of a sustained cooling or merely a pause in an otherwise stubborn inflationary trend.
More in Pakistan News
PakistanPakistan military 'cautiously optimistic' on Iran-US mediation after Munir's second Tehran trip
PakistanOGRA raises RLNG prices by up to 15.3% for October as higher crude costs feed through
Pakistan