Inflationary pressures in Pakistan intensified further, with the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) recording a sharp 9.12% year-on-year (YoY) increase, reflecting the deepening impact of rising energy costs induced by the Israel-US war on Iran.<\/p>\n
According to the latest weekly report issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), inflation rose by 1.01% week-on-week (WoW) for the week ended April 2, 2026, compared to a 0.97% increase in the previous week, marking a continued upward trend in prices for the third consecutive week.<\/p>\n
The report highlighted that price pressures were largely driven by increases in essential food items and energy costs. Among the major contributors, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices surged by 13.28%, followed by eggs (2.23%), chicken (2.13%), pulse mash (1.74%) and mutton (1.54%). Prices of milk, curd and beef also registered modest increases during<\/p>\n
the week.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, some relief was observed in select food items. Tomato prices declined by 6.03% and garlic, potatoes and onions also posted noticeable decreases. Wheat flour and sugar prices recorded slight reductions, partially offsetting the overall inflationary trend.<\/p>\n
Out of the 51 essential commodities tracked, prices of 15 items increased, nine decreased, while 27 remained unchanged, indicating a broad-based but uneven inflationary pattern across the consumption basket.<\/p>\n
On a yearly basis, energy costs remained the key driver of inflation. LPG prices jumped by 53.69%, diesel by 29.94%, gas charges by 29.85% and petrol by 26.17%, significantly contributing to the overall rise in the SPI. Food inflation also remained elevated, with wheat flour, onions, mutton and beef registering notable YoY increases.<\/p>\n
The inflationary impact was visible across all income groups. The lowest income segment (earning up to Rs17,732 per month) experienced a YoY inflation rate of 7.46%, while middle-income groups faced higher pressure, with inflation reaching up to 9.28%. Even higher-income households saw inflation at 8.70%, reflecting widespread cost pressures across the economy.<\/p>\n
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s headline inflation rate rose to 7.3% year-on-year in March 2026, according to the PBS, coming in below the government’s projected range of 7.5-8.5%. This compares with 7% in February and just 0.7% in March last year, reflecting a low base effect.<\/p>\n
On a monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 1.2%, higher than February’s 0.3%. During July-March FY26, average inflation stood at 5.67%. Urban inflation reached 7.4% YoY, while rural inflation was recorded at 7.2%.<\/p>\n
Analysts expect the pace of inflation to remain moderate, supported by remittance inflows, though external risks may influence the outlook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Inflationary pressures in Pakistan intensified further, with the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) recording a sharp 9.12% year-on-year (YoY) increase, reflecting the deepening impact of rising energy costs induced by the Israel-US war on Iran. According to the latest weekly report issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), inflation rose by 1.01% week-on-week (WoW) for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3526,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521\/revisions\/3526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}