Daily Times

The weekly inflation, measured by Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), witnessed an increase of 0.51 percent for the combined consumption group during the week ended on April 19, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Thursday. The SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 251.83 points as compared to 250.56 points during the past week, according to PBS data. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 47.23 percent.

The weekly SPI with the base year 2015-16 =100 is covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The SPI for the lowest consumption group up to Rs17,732 witnessed a 025 percent increase and went up to 257.73 points from last week’s 257.09 points. Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption group from Rs 17,732-22-888; Rs 22,889-29,517; Rs 29,518-44,175; and above Rs 44,175 witnessed an increase of 0.34 percent, 0.30 percent, 0.37 percent, and 0.63 percent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 29 (56.86%) items increased, 08 (15.69%) items decreased and 14 (27.45%) items remained stable. The items which recorded an increase in their average prices on a week-on-week (WoW) included Potatoes (3.79%), Tea Lipton (3.61%), Gur (3.40%), Bread (2.48%), Chicken (2.00%), Bananas (1.68%), Rice Basmati Broken (1.54%) and Rice Irri-6/9 (1.22%), non-food items, LPG (4.75%), Petrol (3.67%) and Match Box (2.51%).

The items that recorded a decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week (wow) basis included Tomatoes (13.11%), Onions (4.62%), Garlic (3.59%), Sugar (1.52%), Wheat Flour (0.93%), Mustard Oil (0.56%), Cigarettes (0.26%) and Pulse Gram (0.22%). On a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, the commodities which recorded a decrease in their average prices included Tomatoes (8.65%) and Chilies Powdered (6.48%). The commodities that witnessed an increase in prices on a YOY included Cigarettes (151.45%), Wheat Flour (143.88%), Gas Charges for Q1 (108.38%), Tea Lipton (104.28%), Diesel (102.84%), Potatoes (98.74%), Bananas (98.42%), Eggs (97.80%), Petrol (87.81%), Rice Basmati Broken (87.30%), Rice Irri-6/9 (83.52%), Pulse Moong (68.94%), Bread (59.22%) and Pulse Mash (58.35%).