Overview

• PBS reported the combined Sensitive Price Indicator at 330.84 points, down from 335.35 a week earlier.
• The SPI was 4.17% higher than the same week last year, reflecting persistent inflationary strain.
• Weekly declines were led by perishables as supplies normalized, with tomatoes down 23.11% and chicken down 12.74%; electricity charges for Q1 fell 6.21%, bananas 5.07%, and wheat flour 2.60%.
• Some items rose on the week, including diesel up 1.06%, eggs 0.91%, basmati broken rice 0.84%, and IRRI-6/9 rice 0.78%.
• Price relief was broad-based across expenditure groups, with the lowest-income bracket down 1.43%, while year-on-year gains remained steep for items such as ladies’ sandals (+55.62%), tomatoes (+49.02%), sugar (+30.17%), gas charges for Q1 (+29.85%), and wheat flour (+15.70%).