According to data provided by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday, edible oil, sugar, and vegetables helped drive the weekly inflation up to 41.07 percent on an annual basis.
Sensitive Price Index (SPI) measurements of short-term inflation were still on the high side and will go up even more once customers start to feel the full effects of increased electricity tariffs.
The cost of bananas, chicken, sugar, cooking oil, gas, and cigarettes increased for the week ending March 2, despite a 0.30 percent weekly decline in inflation. Of of the 51 tracked items, 32 saw price increases, nine saw price decreases, and 10 saw no change in price.
Onions (311.17%), cigarettes (165.86%), gas charges for Q1 (108.38%), diesel (93.82%), gasoline (77.89%), eggs (77.83%), rice irri-6/9 (76.96%), rice basmati broken (75.55%), pulse moong (73.30%), bananas (72.66%), chicken (64.70%), and tea Lipton were the commodities with the largest price increases during the reviewed week compared to the same (64.53pc).
On the other hand, the costs of tomatoes (down 56.29 percent) and powdered red peppers (down (7.42pc).
On a week-on-week basis, the biggest change was noted in the prices of bananas (7.34pc), long cloth (3.44pc), energy saver (3.33pc), vegetable ghee 1Kg (2.48pc), gur (2.03pc), cooked daal (1.87pc), tea Lipton (1.79pc), matchbox (1.66pc), lawn printed (1.52pc), cooking oil 5 litre (1.45pc) and sugar (1.07pc).
Onions (13.24%), eggs (6.11%), garlic (4.24%), chicken (2.00%), tomatoes (0.59%), pulse gramme (0.38%), potatoes (0.33%), LPG (1.84%), and petrol were the items whose prices dropped the most from the previous week (1.80pc).
Under IMF guidelines, the government has been implementing strict measures that are anticipated to further chill the economy and fuel inflation. The general sales tax policy rate rise from 17 to 18 percent will result in a further increase in the retail price of consumer products.
In order to close the fiscal deficit, the government has already implemented a number of steps, such as adopting a market-based exchange rate, raising fuel and electricity prices, eliminating subsidies, and increasing taxation. As a result of these measures, the government has raised its annual inflation rate to 31pc from an earlier projection of 26pc.
