Weekly Inflation in Pakistan Rises 0.65% as LPG Jumps 22% and Chicken 12% (SPI, 22 October 2026)

Short answer: Weekly inflation in Pakistan rose 0.65 per cent in the week ended 22 October 2026, the biggest weekly rise in four weeks. The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) is now 11.85 per cent higher than a year ago. LPG jumped 22.44 per cent and live chicken 12.20 per cent, while tomatoes fell 21.99 per cent.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released the figures on Friday, 23 October. We read the PBS executive summary and its 17 city table on 24 October and worked through the item list. Two items did almost all the damage this week. Without LPG and chicken, the index would have gone down, not up. The table below shows every big mover and what each one added.

Weekly inflation rose 0.65 per cent to an SPI of 374.84

The combined SPI stood at 374.84 for the week ended 22 October 2026, up from 372.43 a week earlier. That is a rise of 0.65 per cent. It is the largest weekly increase since the week of 24 September, when the index rose 0.99 per cent.

The SPI tracks 51 essential items in 50 markets across 17 cities. It uses 2015-16 as its base of 100, so an index of 374.84 means this basket costs about 3.7 times what it did then. Last week the index had slipped 0.04 per cent, helped by cheaper tomatoes and petrol. This week, PBS counted 19 items that went up, 12 that went down and 20 that did not move.

A year ago, in the week ended 23 October 2025, the index was 335.14. Put simply, a basket that cost Rs 1,000 then costs about Rs 1,118 now. That is our own arithmetic from the PBS index values.

LPG and chicken added more than the whole weekly rise

LPG added 0.54 points and live chicken 0.41 points to the combined index, PBS's impact column shows. Together that is 0.96 points, more than the 0.65 per cent total. Petrol and tomatoes pulled the other way by 0.53 points between them.

Here is how the main movers compare, with the PBS average price for each.

All rises together added 1.19 points and all falls took away 0.54 points, so the net was the 0.65 seen above. Take out LPG and chicken and the rest of the basket would have dropped about 0.31 per cent. PBS does not say why any price moved, and we do not guess.

The LPG figure is a market average, not a notified price. Our report on the LPG cylinder price in all 17 cities has the city by city list. The flour move is smaller but still matters to poorer homes, and the 20 kg atta bag price by city shows big jumps in Lahore and Sargodha.

Prices are 11.85 per cent higher than a year ago

On a yearly basis the SPI is up 11.85 per cent, against 11.38 per cent last week. LPG is up 107.12 per cent on the year, onions 72.81 per cent and electricity for the lowest income group 58.59 per cent. Tomatoes are down 71.72 per cent and sugar 25 per cent.

Other big yearly rises are petrol at 44.17 per cent, diesel at 41.56 per cent, chicken at 38.99 per cent and wheat flour at 36.49 per cent. On the cheaper side, potatoes are down 40.75 per cent, eggs 22.14 per cent and salt 14.86 per cent.

The yearly SPI rate is a different measure from monthly CPI inflation. If the difference confuses you, the four inflation numbers are set out side by side in Pakistan's CPI, SPI, WPI and core inflation.

Richer households saw the steepest rise this week

The top income group, spending above Rs 44,175 a month, saw its SPI rise 0.74 per cent this week and 12.69 per cent on the year. The lowest group, up to Rs 17,732, saw 0.51 per cent and 8.45 per cent. LPG and chicken weigh more in richer budgets.

PBS weights explain the gap. LPG carries 1.44 per cent of the combined basket but only 0.61 per cent for the lowest group. Chicken carries 3.87 per cent combined and 2.93 per cent for the lowest group. The method behind these groups is laid out in PBS's weekly SPI by income group.

The SPI has risen in 9 of the last 10 weeks

Over the last ten weeks the combined SPI went up nine times and fell once, PBS's trend table shows. It climbed from 360.90 on 20 August to 374.84 on 22 October, a rise of 3.86 per cent in about two months, by our arithmetic.

The yearly rate has stayed between 11.38 and 11.97 per cent since late September. The one weekly fall in October came on 15 October, at 0.04 per cent. So a fall one week has not meant a trend.

Here is what a household can do with this release:

1. Open the PBS city table for your city and find the item you buy most, such as chicken, flour or LPG.
2. Compare the city average with what your shop charges. A gap of more than the city's maximum price is worth questioning.
3. Check the minimum price in your city. It shows the lowest price PBS found in its sample markets.
4. Track the same item next Friday, when PBS releases the next week.
5. For LPG, check the notified price before you pay, because the market average is well above what many readers expect.

If your income has not kept up, the table in the raise you need to match inflation shows the gap in rupees.

Common questions

What was weekly inflation in Pakistan on 22 October 2026?

The SPI rose 0.65 per cent in the week ended 22 October 2026, PBS said. The yearly rate was 11.85 per cent.

Which items rose most this week?

LPG rose 22.44 per cent, live chicken 12.20 per cent and onions 4.19 per cent. Bread and wheat flour also rose.

Which items got cheaper?

Tomatoes fell 21.99 per cent, petrol 3.63 per cent, bananas 2.42 per cent and diesel 1.68 per cent. Eggs and sugar also eased slightly.

When is the next SPI release?

PBS normally releases the SPI on Friday. The next one, for the week ending 29 October 2026, should come out on 30 October.

Is the SPI the same as monthly inflation?

No. The SPI covers 51 items in 17 cities every week. Monthly CPI inflation covers a much wider basket and comes out early each month.

Does PBS explain why prices moved?

No. The release lists the prices and changes only. It gives no reasons, so any cause you read elsewhere is someone's view.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

We read the PBS SPI release for the week ended 22 October 2026 and its executive summary on 24 October 2026. Index values, item prices, weights and impact points come from that summary. The basket comparison, the 0.31 per cent figure without LPG and chicken, and the ten-week change are our own arithmetic. PBS gives no reasons for any price move, so we state none.