Pakistan’s short-term inflation increased by 0.65% during the week ended October 22, 2026, while the annual inflation rate reached 11.85%, driven by sharp increases in LPG, chicken and onion prices, it was reported on Friday.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the latest figures showed that the weekly increase reversed the 0.04% decline recorded in the preceding week, while year-on-year inflation accelerated from 11.38% to 11.85%.
Among essential commodities, LPG recorded the largest weekly price increase of 22.44%, followed by chicken at 12.20%, onions at 4.19%, shirting at 1.86%, plain bread at 1.66% and wheat flour at 1%.
Other items becoming more expensive included garlic, up 0.74%, firewood 0.71%, georgette and vegetable ghee 0.59% each, beef 0.31% and pulse mash 0.30%.
According to the PBS, the average price of an 11.67-kilogram LPG cylinder increased from Rs5,154.16 to Rs6,310.76 during the week, while live chicken prices rose from Rs395.98 to Rs444.27 per kilogram.
Onions increased from Rs180.99 to Rs188.57 per kilogram, while the average price of a 20-kilogram wheat flour bag climbed from Rs2,946.72 to Rs2,976.12.
In contrast, tomato prices recorded the largest weekly decline of 21.99%, followed by petrol at 3.63%, bananas at 2.42%, diesel at 1.68% and potatoes at 1.38%.
Prices of pulse gram fell 0.93%, eggs 0.58%, powdered milk 0.38%, while broken basmati rice and sugar declined 0.35% each.
The average price of tomatoes decreased from Rs119.43 to Rs93.17 per kilogram, while petrol fell from Rs396.06 to Rs381.67 per litre and high-speed diesel from Rs398.89 to Rs392.17 per litre.
Of the 51 essential commodities monitored by the PBS, prices of 19 items, or 37.25%, increased during the week, while 12 items, representing 23.53%, became cheaper. Prices of the remaining 20 items, or 39.22%, remained unchanged.
On a year-on-year basis, LPG prices recorded the steepest increase of 107.12%, followed by onions at 72.81%, electricity charges for the lowest consumption group at 58.59%, petrol at 44.17% and diesel at 41.56%.
Chicken prices were 38.99% higher than a year earlier, while wheat flour increased 36.49%, chilli powder 15.55%, mutton 14.66%, beef 12.10%, plain bread 10.82% and prepared tea 8.36%.
Meanwhile, tomatoes were 71.72% cheaper compared with the corresponding week last year, followed by potatoes at 40.75%, sugar at 25%, eggs at 22.14%, powdered salt at 14.86%, pulse masoor at 9.08%, gur at 8.98% and pulse moong at 7.05%.
The SPI also showed varying inflation rates across income groups, with the highest expenditure quintile recording the largest weekly increase of 0.74% and annual inflation of 12.69%.
For the lowest expenditure group, comprising households with monthly consumption expenditure of up to Rs17,732, inflation increased 0.51% week-on-week and 8.45% year-on-year.
The second expenditure group recorded weekly inflation of 0.49% and annual inflation of 10.37%, while the third group registered increases of 0.54% and 9.33%, respectively.
For the fourth expenditure group, weekly inflation stood at 0.56%, while the annual increase was 9.90%.
The combined SPI index rose to 374.84 points from 372.43 points in the previous week and 335.14 points during the corresponding week last year.
The PBS calculates the SPI using prices of 51 essential commodities collected from 50 markets across 17 cities to monitor short-term changes in the cost of living.
