Daily Times

The weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), decreased by 0.35 percent for the combined consumption groups during the week ended on March 20, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday.

According to the PBS data, the SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 319.62 points as compared to 320.75 points during the past week. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed a decrease of 1.20 per cent. The weekly SPI with the base year 2015-16 =100 covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The SPI for the lowest consumption group of up to Rs 17,732 witnessed decrease of 0.39 per cent and went down to 308.43 points from last week’s 309.65 points. The SPI for consumption groups of Rs 17,732 to 22,888; Rs 22,889-29,517; Rs 29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175, went down by 0.35 percent, 0.39 percent, 0.40 percent and 0.36 percent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 11 (21.57%) items increased, 18 (35.29%) items decreased and 22 (43.14%) items remained stable. The items, which recorded major decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included Tomatoes (7.08%), Onions (6.07%), Garlic (5.59%), Eggs (4.64%), Potatoes (2.50%), Pulse Gram (1.60%), Tea Lipton (1.30%), Sugar (0.87%) and Firewood (0.60%).

The commodities which recorded major increase in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included Lawn Printed (2.90%), LPG (1.53%), Bananas (1.45%), Long Cloth (1.23%), Bread (0.55%), Cigarettes (0.27%), Beef (0.25%), Curd (0.24%) and Salt Powder (0.03%). Year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed decrease included Onions (67.67%), Wheat Flour (35.58%), Tomatoes (29.45%), Chilies Powder (20.00%), Electricity Charges for Q1 (18.92%), Tea Lipton (16.98%), Pulse Mash (13.96%), Pulse Masoor (11.69%), Rice Basmati Broken (9.81%), Diesel (9.37%), Petrol (8.55%) and LPG (5.30%). The commodities which recorded an increase in their average prices on year-on-year basis included f Ladies Sandal (75.09%), Pulse Moong (26.96%), Powdered Milk (25.75%), Beef (21.01%), Sugar (18.65%), Chicken (18.23%), Pulse Gram (17.83%), Vegetable Ghee 1 Kg (16.13%), Bananas (15.73%), Lawn Printed (12.28%), Shirting (12.20%) and Georgette (11.20%).