Moaaz Manzoor

Pakistan’s weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased by 1.16% for the week ended February 19, 2026, mainly driven by higher prices of perishable food items and electricity charges, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

The SPI, which tracks 51 essential commodities from 50 markets across 17 cities, provides a short-term view of price movements.

The weekly increase was largely led by bananas, which surged 16.05%, and electricity charges for Q1, which rose 15.41%. Other notable increases were recorded in the prices of garlic (5.86%), chicken (5.49%), onions (3.83%), tomatoes (3.82%), diesel (2.69%), petrol (1.93%), beef (1.03%), LPG (0.75%), mutton (0.69%), and long cloth (0.28%).

In contrast, the sharpest weekly decline was observed in eggs, down 11.78%, followed by potatoes (2.24%), wheat flour (2.02%), pulse masoor (1.47%), and sugar (0.96%). Prices of vegetable ghee (2.5kg) declined 0.72%, pulse gram 0.58%, cooking oil (5 litre) 0.19%, gur 0.16%, vegetable ghee (1kg) 0.11%, rice IRRI-6/9 0.08%, and mustard oil 0.07%.

Out of 51 items, prices of 17 items (33.33%) increased, 12 items (23.53%) decreased, while 22 items (43.14%) remained unchanged during the week.

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, SPI rose 5.19% compared to the corresponding week last year. Major YoY increases were recorded in tomatoes (85.20%), wheat flour (31.33%), gas charges for Q1 (29.85%), and electricity charges for Q1 (17.33%).

Other significant increases included bananas (15.83%), chilli powder (15.20%), beef (13.28%), LPG (12.22%), firewood (11.40%), powdered milk (9.89%), shirting (9.11%), mutton (8.77%), and gur (8.63%).

Meanwhile, notable YoY declines were observed in potatoes (45.43%), garlic (27.51%), pulse gram (23.30%), chicken (19.36%), onions (18.10%), Lipton tea (13.95%), salt powder (12.52%), pulse masoor (12.33%), eggs (8.54%), pulse mash (5.08%), mustard oil (2.13%), sugar (1.43%), and pulse moong (1.40%).

The weekly increase varied across consumption quintiles, with inflation recorded at 1.11% for Q1, 1.50% for Q2, 1.03% for Q3, 0.92% for Q4, and 0.78% for Q5, while the combined rate stood at 1.16%.

On a YoY basis, the increases were 5.50% for Q1, 6.78% for Q2, 5.59% for Q3, 4.82% for Q4, and 3.82% for Q5, with a combined YoY rate of 5.19%.

Quarterly data showed that for the lowest consumption quintile (Q1), the SPI index stood at 317.38 in the first quarter (Jul–Sep) 2025-26 and rose to 328.01 in the second quarter (Oct–Dec) 2025-26. The percentage change over the previous quarter was 5.68% in the first quarter and 3.35% in the second quarter, while the change over the corresponding quarter of the previous year was 2.08% and 3.82%, respectively.

Credit: INP-WealthPk