Tomatoes, Chicken, Onions Drive 0.69% Drop in SPI
ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ending April 17, 2025, fell by 0.69% compared to the previous week, mainly due to lower prices of key food items such as tomatoes, chicken, and onions.
Significant weekly declines were recorded in the prices of tomatoes (22.77%), chicken (11.05%), onions (9.82%), and garlic (8.85%). Other items contributing to the drop included wheat flour (2.37%), potatoes (2.18%), mustard oil (0.95%), LPG (0.89%), and 1kg vegetable ghee (0.68%).
On the flip side, modest price increases were observed in clothing and some food items, including shirting (3.68%), printed lawn fabric (1.47%), long cloth and georgette (1.33% each), pulse gram (1.03%), cooked beef (0.74%), beef (0.66%), and cooked daal (0.56%).
Out of 51 essential items tracked, 18 items (35.29%) saw price declines, 16 (31.37%) increased, and 17 (33.34%) remained unchanged.
On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the SPI dropped by 2.72%. Major annual price drops were noted in onions (73.63%), tomatoes (52.75%), wheat flour (30.14%), garlic (28.94%), and chicken (15.17%), among others.
However, some items recorded notable YoY increases, such as ladies’ sandals (55.62%), pulse moong (27.21%), powdered milk (24.71%), beef (19.06%), sugar (17.14%), and vegetable ghee (up to 15.75%).
The SPI, which tracks weekly price changes of essential goods across 17 cities and 50 markets, is a key indicator of short-term inflation.
All income groups saw a week-on-week decline in inflation, with the lowest-income groups (Q1 and Q2) experiencing the largest drop of 0.80%. The middle-income groups (Q3 and Q4) saw declines of 0.72% and 0.73%, while the highest-income group (Q5) recorded a smaller dip of 0.64%.
