New Delhi, March 14 (IANS) Pakistan’s short‑term inflation indicator, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), rose 6.44 per cent year‑on‑year in the week ended March 11, driven largely by sharp increases in petroleum and key food prices, a new report has said.

The indicator jumped 1.89 per cent from the prior week indicating surging prices of key household commodities, according to a report in The Express Tribune, citing data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Petrol prices jumped 20.60 per cent and diesel rose 19.54 per cent on a weekly basis, while liquefied petroleum gas increased 12.13 per cent, acting as major drivers of price inflation in household items, the report said.

Food items also pushed the index higher, with onions up 9.63 per cent, bananas up 1.44 per cent and wheat flour surging 1.28 per cent week‑on‑week, the report added.

Other items posting smaller increases included chicken (0.66 per cent), pulse mash (0.55 per cent), firewood (0.38 per cent), pulse gram (0.10 per cent), fresh milk (0.08 per cent), and cooked beef (0.02 per cent), as per the report.

Another recent report said that Pakistan has locked itself into a “dangerous economic trap” by prioritising short‑term expatriate remittances and foreign aid over productive development.

Remittances now account for nearly 10 per cent of GDP and rival export earnings, masking failures of the system such as idle factories, high unemployment and underutilisation of productive workforce, it noted.

Pakistan’s horoscope for 2026–2031 would be written in “debt ledgers, inflation charts and poverty lines,” the report said, warning of slow growth and inflation eroding household budgets.

Since 1958, Pakistan has entered 26 IMF programmes, the highest globally, totalling over $34 billion, with the latest $7 billion Extended Fund Facility in 2024 extended into 2025-26, the report said, highlighting the country’s ballooning aid dependence.

—IANS

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