Business

Weekly inflation rises 4.8pc

Published

23 hours ago

February 7, 2026

ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), increased 4.84 per cent year-on-year in the week ending Feb 5, owing to an increase in the retail price of tomatoes and onions in the domestic market.

The SPI-based inflation has been on an upward trend for the past 27 consecutive weeks. The increase is mainly driven by a surge in prices of perishable products, as well as pulses and meat.

It, however, increased by 0.09pc from the previous week due to higher prices of tomatoes and onions, official data showed on Friday.

The extraordinary spike in the retail prices of sugar and meat also fuelled the bullish trend. The price of meat has been steadily rising over the past few weeks.

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included tomatoes (12.78pc), bananas (8.16pc), onions (7.27pc), garlic (5.45pc), diesel (4.35pc), pulse mash (2.34pc), pulse moong (0.35pc), mustard oil (0.30pc) and mutton (0.24pc).

The items whose prices saw a decline week-on-week included wheat flour (2.89pc), eggs (2.86pc), pulse masoor (1.26pc), LPG (0.88pc), gur (0.73pc), salt powder (0.59pc), pulse gram (0.58pc), cooking oil 5 litre (0.52pc) and rice IRRI-6/9 (0.36pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included tomatoes (79.70pc), eggs (38.87pc), wheat flour (34.69pc), gas charges for Q1 (29.85pc), bananas (13.49pc), chilies powder (13.30pc), beef (12.65pc), LPG (11.53pc), firewood (11.28pc), powdered milk (9.92pc), shirting (8.49pc) and gur (8.45pc).

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2026

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Business

SECP gets 5th commissioner

Published

27 minutes ago

February 8, 2026

hussainbinnoman3@gmail.com

ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Imtiaz Haider as the fifth commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), completing the regulator’s minimum strength.

Mr Haider previously served as SECP commissioner from 2011 to 2014 and was managing director and CEO of Islamabad Stock Exchange.

The appointment will enable the SECP to establish appellate benches.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026

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Business

Services export surges to $4.76bn

Published

1 hour ago

February 8, 2026

hussainbinnoman3@gmail.com

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s services exports rose 16.51 per cent in the first half of (July to December) 2025-26 compared with the same period last year, largely on the back of higher proceeds from the information technology sector.

The performance stands in contrast to commodity exports, which have shown uneven movement, as the services sector has posted uninterrupted growth since the beginning of the current fiscal year.

The export of services reached $4.764 billion in 1HFY26, up from $4.089bn over the corresponding period last year, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The monthly trends showed that services exports rose by 18.27pc year-on-year in July, followed by increases of 8.41pc in August, 14.85pc in September, 17.61pc in October, 22.26pc in November, and 15.94pc in December. The growth in the export of services is mainly led by telecommunications, computer, and information services.

IT sector drives 16.51pc rise in July-Dec FY26

In rupee terms, exports improved by 18.04pc to Rs1.342tr in 1HFY26, up from Rs1.137tr in FY25. This clearly indicates that export of services is steadily on the rise in the current fiscal year. In December, exports of services reached $935.16m, up from $806.61m in the corresponding month of last year, indicating a growth of 15.94pc. On a month-on-month basis, exports of services grew by 15.84pc.

In FY25, Pakistan’s export of services recorded a growth of 9.23 per cent to $8.39 billion from $7.68bn over the corresponding months of last year. Services exports have grown since February 2024, mainly due to a surge in information technology and other business exports. However, there was a 6.50pc decline in August 2024.

According to data compiled by the State Bank of Pakistan, exports of Telecommunications, Computer, and Information Services reached $2.236 billion in July-December FY26, up from $1.866bn in the corresponding months of last year, indicating a growth of 19.82pc.

The export of other business services recorded growth of 24.87pc to $1.014bn in 1HFY26, compared with $812m over the corresponding months of last year. The export of transport services increased by 0.44pc to $462m in FY26 as against $460m over the last year.

However, the export of travel services grew 19.49pc to $429m during 1HFY26, compared with $359m over the last year. At the same time, the import of services surged by 15.75pc to $6.504bn in 6MFY26 as against $5.619bn over the corresponding months of last year. On a month-on-month basis, the import of services increased by 34.39pc.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026

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