Global Rice News

ISLAMABAD: Annual short-term inflation in Pakistan increased by 43.16% in the week ending on Dec 14, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. This surge in inflation was primarily driven by higher prices of pulses, rice, and vegetables.

For the fifth consecutive week, weekly inflation remained above 41%. The cost of gas and electricity tariffs was higher compared to the same period last year, contributing to the upward trend in prices. These soaring prices have significantly impacted consumer purchasing power and put a strain on households’ finances.

In terms of annual inflation, several items experienced significant price increases. Gas charges for Q1 recorded a staggering 1108.59% increase, followed by cigarettes (93.22%), chillies powder (81.74%), wheat flour (81.40%), garlic (71.17%), rice basmati broken (64.30%), rice IRRI-6/9 (60.64%), gents sponge chappal (58.05%), gents sandal (53.37%), sugar (50.52%), gur (50.42%), and pulse mash (44.80%). However, the price of onions witnessed a decrease of 25.11% year-on-year, along with declines in mustard oil (4.40%), vegetable ghee 1kg (2.12%), bananas (1.05%), and vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.95%).

The short-term inflation, as measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), stood at 311.58 compared to 311.78 in the previous week. The SPI is a basket of goods and services that is used to assess price changes in essential commodities and services on a weekly basis. The index consists of 51 items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities.

According to the data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the prices of 19 items increased, 10 items decreased, and 22 items remained stable compared to the previous week. Among the items with the highest price increases were sugar (6.02%), pulse gram (2.57%), eggs (2.33%), rice IRRI-6/9 (1.54%), pulse moong (1.23%), georgette (1.16%), onion (1.05%), cooked beef (0.76%), pulse masoor (0.69%), shirting (0.43%), long cloth (0.20%), and LPG (0.16%). On the other hand, the items with the largest price drops included potatoes (12.18%), tomatoes (5.18%), tea Lipton (2.57%), chicken (1.19%), rice basmati broken (0.52%), mustard oil (0.36%), garlic (0.33%), and vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.31%).

In early May, the SPI inflation reached a record high of 48.35% but then gradually decreased to as low as 24.4% in late August. However, inflation surged past 40% again in the week ending on Nov 16.

Source: [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com){target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”}