Weekly SPI declines 0.26pc amid fall in food prices

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the current week ended on 10th December 2020 recorded a decrease of 0.26 percent over last week, reported the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in its latest report.

As per PBS data, this decrease is mainly due to fall in prices of food items i.e. Potatoes (7.31pc), Sugar (6.97pc), Onions (6.78pc), Tomatoes (1.22pc), Pulse Masoor (0.96pc), Gur (0.79pc), Wheat Flour Bag (0.72pc), Pulse Mash (0.32pc), Rice Basmati Broken (0.30pc), Pulse Gram (0.26pc) and Pulse Moong (0.22pc) and non-food items i.e. LPG (0.22pc) with joint impact of (-0.51) into the overall SPI for combined group of (-0.26pc).

On the other hand, an increase was observed in the prices of food items i.e. Eggs (6.96pc) and Garlic (1.07pc).

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 16 (31.37pc) items increased, 13 (25.49pc) items decreased and 22 (43.14pc) items remained constant.

The year on year trend depicts an increase of 8.44pc with most of the items increased mainly Chilies Powder (86.31pc), Chicken (68.29pc), Eggs (63.66pc), Potatoes (48.63pc), Match Box (24.40pc), Sufi Washing Soap (21.42pc), Pulse Mash (18.72pc), Vegetable Ghee 1kg (18.21pc), Pulse Moong (16.90pc), Long Cloth (16.57pc), Mustard Oil (16.18pc), Shirting (16.11pc), Pulse Masoor (15.17pc) and Rice IRRI (15.14pc). While a major decrease was observed in the price of Onions (21.97pc), Garlic (17.00pc), Diesel (15.56pc), Petrol (11.58pc), Electricity for Q1 (9.84pc), Tomatoes (9.59pc) and LPG (2.78pc)