Short-term inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) eased slightly to 29.24 per cent year-on-year (YoY) for the week ending on Nov 10, data shared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

The annual increase in SPI has been on the decline for some time, falling from a peak of 45.5pc in the week ending Sept 1. Last week, YoY inflation was measured at 30.6pc.

The latest PBS data showed inflation was recorded at 0.74pc week-on-week (WoW) compared to 0.53pc last week and a record 4.13pc in the week that ended on Oct 27.

The SPI monitors the prices of 51 essential items based on a survey of 50 markets in 17 cities across the country. During the week under review, the prices of 22 out of 51 items increased, 14 decreased, and 15 remained stable.

Highest WoW rise

• Onions: 27.16pc
• Potatoes: 5.31pc
• Lipton tea: 4.62pc
• Bananas: 4.38pc
• Sugar: 3.6pc

Highest WoW decline

• Tomatoes: 6.37pc
• Pulse Gram: 2.02pc
• Pulse Masoor: 1.5pc
• Pulse Moong: 0.9pc
• Cooking Oil 5-litre: 0.89pc

Highest YoY rise

• Onions: 292.3pc
• Pulse Gram: 59.69pc
• Pulse Moong: 54.66pc
• Bananas: 52.18pc
• Lipton tea: 50.39pc

Highest YoY decline

• Chili Powder: 41.85pc
• Sugar: 8.9pc
• Gur: 6.87pc
• LPG: 0.25pc

The annual CPI inflation surged to 26.6pc YoY in October after it slowed to 23.2pc in September from a 49-year high of 27.3pc in August as the country continued to be in the grip of high food and transport prices.

The central bank has tightened its monetary policy to contain surging inflation and the rupee’s depreciation. Since September 2021, the central bank has increased the policy rate by a cumulative 800bps to 15pc, the highest rate since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Soaring vegetable prices, especially onions and tomatoes, due to damage to the standing crops caused by the floods and a massive hike in electricity rates contributed to pushing up inflation in recent weeks.