Pakistan weekly inflation climbs 0.65% as onion prices surge 26.30%, PBS reports

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BeNewz Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan weekly inflation, as measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), rose by 0.65 percent for the week ended September 3, 2026, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The increase was driven chiefly by a sharp 26.30 percent jump in onion prices, alongside gains in tomatoes, petrol, wheat flour and chicken.

The SPI, which tracks the prices of 51 essential items across 50 markets in 17 cities to gauge short-term inflation, showed that out of the 51 items surveyed, 17 items (33.33 percent) increased in price, 7 items (13.73 percent) decreased, and 27 items (52.94 percent) remained unchanged during the week. Besides onions, notable increases were recorded in tomatoes (2.55 percent), potatoes (0.96 percent), petrol (0.90 percent), wheat flour (0.88 percent), chicken (0.85 percent), pulse mash (0.67 percent), garlic (0.18 percent), mustard oil (0.13 percent) and diesel (0.09 percent).

Year-on-Year Pakistan Weekly Inflation Trend Nears 8.35%

On a year-on-year basis, Pakistan weekly inflation stood significantly higher, with the SPI up 8.35 percent compared to the corresponding week last year. Onions again led the surge, up a striking 162.75 percent year-on-year, followed by LPG (53.61 percent), diesel (37.70 percent), petrol (31.01 percent), first-quarter electricity charges (25.24 percent), wheat flour (16.86 percent), chilies powder (16.37 percent), bananas (16.07 percent), mutton (16.03 percent), beef (13.31 percent), fresh milk (8.21 percent) and plain bread (8.09 percent).

Some items provided relief on the year-on-year comparison, with potatoes down 31.61 percent, chicken down 23.50 percent, sugar down 19.38 percent, eggs down 18.18 percent, salt powder down 13.96 percent, pulse gram down 12.95 percent, pulse masoor down 12.16 percent and pulse moong down 7.19 percent.

Breaking the data down by income group, the PBS report shows that lower-income quintiles felt the sharpest weekly price pressure: Q1, the lowest expenditure group (up to Rs. 17,732), recorded a 0.91 percent weekly increase and a 7.59 percent year-on-year rise, while Q5, the highest expenditure group (above Rs. 44,175), saw a smaller 0.58 percent weekly increase but the steepest year-on-year change among quintiles at 8.47 percent. The combined SPI reached 363.42 points (base 2015-16=100), up from 361.07 points the previous week.

Social Media and Public Reaction

News of the fresh Pakistan weekly inflation figures, particularly the steep 26.30 percent weekly and 162.75 percent annual jump in onion prices, drew swift reaction from households and traders on social media, with many venting frustration over kitchen budgets being squeezed further ahead of the weekend. Some social media users pointed to the parallel rise in petrol and diesel prices as a compounding factor pushing up transport and food-delivery costs, while others noted relief in falling chicken, sugar and egg prices as a small silver lining in an otherwise strained cost-of-living picture.

Expert Analysis

Economists tracking Pakistan’s short-term price trends say the onion price spike is likely tied to seasonal supply constraints, and caution that fuel-linked items such as petrol and diesel continue to have an outsized influence on the broader SPI basket due to their pass-through effect on transport and logistics costs.

Analysts note that the widening gap between the SPI increase for lower quintiles (Q1 at 0.91 percent weekly) versus higher quintiles (Q5 at 0.58 percent weekly) points to disproportionate strain on lower-income households, who spend a larger share of their budgets on food staples like onions, tomatoes and wheat flour.

They add that sustained double-digit annual increases in energy-linked items — LPG, diesel, petrol and electricity — remain the primary driver keeping year-on-year Pakistan weekly inflation elevated even as some food items show relief.

Data Table