ISLAMABAD – Due to the continuous rise in inflation, prices of 24 essential items have further increased across the country.

For the third consecutive week, the pace of inflation has continued to rise, with a 0.49% increase recorded this week. On an annual basis, inflation has climbed to 4.57%.

According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, prices of 24 essential goods — including potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, onions, ghee, and flour — rose during the week, while prices of 8 items such as rice, moong lentils, petrol, diesel, and gram lentils decreased. Prices of 19 items remained unchanged.

The report shows that during the week, potatoes increased by 0.71%, eggs by 2.81%, flour by 1.42%, onions by 8.70%, garlic by 0.85%, vegetable ghee by 0.63%, tomatoes by 33.20%, and washing soap by 0.08%.

Among the items that saw a decline were chicken (-6.38%), moong lentils (-0.49%), bananas (-4.70%), gram lentils (-2.20%), broken basmati rice (-0.51%), petrol (-2.09%), and high-speed diesel (-0.55%).

Data also revealed that for households earning up to Rs17,732 per month, inflation rose by 1.07%, reaching 4.98%.

For those earning between Rs17,733–22,888, inflation increased by 0.92% to 4.98%, and for incomes between Rs22,889–29,517, the rate rose by 0.71% to 5.57%.

Households earning Rs29,518–44,175 saw a 0.59% rise (5.49%), while those earning above Rs44,176 faced a 0.29% increase, bringing inflation to 3.61%.