How fast urban food prices are rising year-over-year — the component of inflation that hits household budgets most directly.
Source: SBP EasyData, monthly, Urban Food CPI year-over-year. SBP publishes Urban and Rural food CPI separately — there is no single National Food CPI series.
Food inflation measures how fast the prices of food items — wheat, rice, vegetables, meat, cooking oil, and other staples — are rising compared to a year earlier, specifically in urban areas.
SBP's EasyData platform publishes food CPI inflation separately for urban and rural areas; there is no single national food CPI series, so this page uses the verified Urban series rather than estimating a blended national figure.
Food typically carries a heavy weight in Pakistan's overall CPI basket, especially for lower-income households, which means swings in food prices can move the headline inflation number significantly even when other categories are stable.
Food inflation disproportionately affects lower-income households, who spend a much larger share of their budget on food than wealthier households — making it a key driver of the cost-of-living burden and a politically sensitive indicator.
When food inflation runs well above core inflation, it signals that supply shocks (poor harvests, supply chain disruption, fuel costs feeding into transport) are driving price pressure, rather than broad-based demand — a distinction that matters for how the State Bank responds with interest rates.