ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) recorded a week-on-week increase of 0.49% for the week ending August 20, 2026, driving the annual year-on-year inflation rate to 9.66%.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday, the short-term price monitor tracked 51 essential items across 50 markets in 17 urban centres, revealing that prices of 23 items increased, 10 items decreased, and 18 items remained unchanged.
During the review period, price hikes were heavily led by essential food and energy commodities. Onions experienced a sharp weekly surge of 14.17%, followed by petrol super at 3.77%, live farm broiler chicken at 3.35%, garlic at 2.00%, and pulse gram at 0.93%. Additional increases were recorded for ordinary prepared tea at 0.70%, Lifebuoy toilet soap at 0.68%, Lipton tea at 0.34%, fresh milk at 0.17%, hotel-cooked daal at 0.15%, Sufi washing soap at 0.12%, beef with bone at 0.12%, and Capstan cigarettes at 0.06%.
On an annual basis, yearly inflation was propelled by staggering increases in onions at 132.52%, tomatoes at 93.21%, wheat flour at 62.25%, LPG cylinders at 51.69%, high-speed diesel at 33.08%, and petrol at 27.65%.
In contrast, weekly relief was observed in select commodities, led by a 5.78% drop in egg prices, a 5.15% decrease in high-speed diesel, and a 4.99% decline in tomatoes.
Potatoes, LPG cylinders, bananas, pulse moong, and refined sugar also saw minor downward price adjustments during the week.
Across consumption quintiles, the weekly increase ranged from 0.38% for the lowest income group up to 0.55% for the highest income group, while annual inflation for the lowest quintile stood at 9.87%.
