Daily Times

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based weekly inflation for the week ended on April 08, for the combined consumption group, witnessed an increase of 0.62 percent as compared to the previous week.

The SPI for the week under review in the aforementioned group was recorded at 148 points against 147.12 points registered on April 01, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The SPI for the combined group increased by 18.43 percent compared to the corresponding period of the last year. The index was recorded at 124.97 points a year ago, on Apr 09, 2020.

The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 is covering 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 18 items increased, 13 items decreased whereas 20 items registered no change during the week.

The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 0.51 percent and 0.62 percent. The lowest income group witnessed a weekly increase of 0.51 percent while the highest income group recorded an increase of 0.62 percent.

On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 17.15 percent and 21.97 percent.

Yearly SPI for the lowest income group increased by 21.97 percent while the highest income group recorded an increase of 17.15 percent.

The average price of Sona urea stood at Rs1,748 per 50-kg bag which is 0.17 percent lower than last week’s price and 3.99 percent higher when compared to last year. Meanwhile, the average cement price was recorded at Rs614 per 50kg bag, which is 0.33 percent higher than the previous week and 12.45% higher than prices last year.

Earlier last week, the SPI-based inflation for the week ended on April 1, for the combined consumption group, witnessed a decrease of 0.43 percent as compared to the previous week, while on a year-on-year basis, the SPI had witnessed an increase of 17.21 percent.