SPI inflation hits 11.97%: atta up 5.7% in a week to Rs 2,851 a bag, onions double in a year

Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), rose 0.57% in the week ended 8 October 2026 and is 11.97% higher than a year ago, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday. The index stands at 372.58 (2015-16 = 100). The SPI tracks 51 essential items in 50 markets across 17 cities, so it is the closest weekly read of what a kitchen budget costs.

What went up this week

The biggest weekly increases, from the PBS executive summary:

Prices fell for bananas (2.81%), diesel (1.37%), potatoes (0.89%) and sugar (0.37%). Of 51 items, 20 rose, 6 fell and 25 were unchanged.

The year-on-year picture

Against the same week of 2025, the big jumps are onions (100.24%), now Rs 190 a kilo on average against Rs 95 a year ago, LPG (68.55%), electricity for the lowest-use households (58.59%), petrol (47.52%), diesel (42.52%) and wheat flour (32.60%), which has gone from Rs 2,150 to Rs 2,851 a bag. Mutton is up 15% and beef 12.6%.

Some things are cheaper than last year: potatoes (down 39.51%), tomatoes (37.07%), sugar (22.44%), now Rs 143 a kilo against Rs 184, and eggs (18.88%), at Rs 261 a dozen against Rs 322.

Who it hits hardest

The SPI splits households by monthly spending. This week, prices for the highest group (spending above Rs 44,175) are up 12.48% on a year ago, against 9.41% for the lowest (up to Rs 17,732). For everyone, flour and chicken were this week's pressure points.

What it means for you

A family using two 20kg bags of atta a month is paying about Rs 300 more than a week ago and around Rs 1,400 more than a year ago at the national average. Fuel is the other driver: work out your own monthly bill with the fuel cost calculator, and follow the PSO price on our petrol price page. The monthly consumer inflation figure (CPI), which the State Bank watches for interest rates, is on our CPI inflation page.