KARACHI: Consumers are facing a tough year as the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) rose 8.62 per cent year-on-year for the week ending on Sept 10, with a major contribution from costly onion and petroleum products, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday.

Major increase was observed in the prices of onions (125.52pc), LPG (55.42pc), diesel (45.26pc), petrol (39.10pc), wheat flour (30.18pc), electricity for Q1 (25.24pc), chillies powder (16.37pc), mutton (15.92pc), beef (13.28pc), bananas (10.51pc), milk fresh (8.12pc) and bread plain (8.09pc).

However, during the week, consumers paid less compared to a year-on-year basis for items including potatoes (35.21pc), chicken (24.30pc), sugar (20.88pc), eggs (19.95pc), tomatoes (17.65pc), salt powder (13.96pc), pulse gram (13.52pc) and pulse masoor (12.26pc).

Week-on-week, the SPI increased by 0.23 per cent.

Major weekly rise was recorded in the prices of petrol (6.18pc), diesel (5.49pc), LPG (4.32pc), pulse mash (0.79pc), washing soap (0.49pc), wheat flour (0.47pc), pulse masoor (0.46pc), mustard oil (0.36pc), cooking oil 5-litre (0.23pc), rice Irri-6/9 (0.18pc), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (0.11pc) and curd (0.03pc).

Meanwhile, the prices of bananas (7.73pc), tomatoes (5.24pc), chicken (4.22pc), onions (3.72pc), potatoes (1.88pc), eggs (0.68pc), garlic (0.44pc), and sugar (0.42pc) fell significantly during the week.

Out of 51 items, prices of 14 (27.45pc) items increased, 10 (19.61pc) items decreased and 27 (52.94pc) items remained steady during the week.

The Gulf war since Feb 28 has been playing havoc with world oil prices, causing a massive increase in domestic petroleum prices and forcing manufacturers to pass on higher freight and transport charges to consumers.

Weekly data showed that consumers in Karachi have been paying the highest price for a 20kg bag of wheat, at Rs2,950-3,200, compared with other cities, while consumers in Islamabad and Quetta were paying Rs173 per kg for one kg of fine flour.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2026