ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based inflation for the week ended 26th January 2023 recorded an increase of 0.45 percent due to an increase in the prices of food items including onions (5.51 percent), rice irri-6/9 (4.51 percent), tomatoes (4.18 percent), bananas (3.57 percent), rice basmati broken (3.56 percent), garlic (3.47 percent), wheat flour (1.81 percent), and non-food item LPG (5.29 percent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 32.57 percent mainly due to an increase in the prices of onions (532.23 percent), chicken (102.09 percent), eggs (69.48 percent), tea Lipton (63.92 percent), rice basmati broken (61.23 percent), diesel (57.34 percent), pulse moong (57.16 percent), rice irri-6/9 (57.05 percent), bananas (53.95 percent), salt powdered (49.50 percent), wheat flour (48.71 percent), bread (46.53 percent) and petrol (45.21 percent), while decrease is observed in the prices of tomatoes (27.84 percent), chillies powdered (15.32 percent), electricity for q1 (12.31 percent) and gur (0.89 percent).
The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 221.54 points against 220.54 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest PBS data released on Friday.
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 25 (49.02 percent) items increased, six (11.76 percent) items decreased, and 20 (39.22 percent) items remained stable.
The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs17,732, Rs17,732-22,888, Rs22,889-29,517, Rs29,518-44,175 and above Rs44,175 consumption group increase by 0.41 percent, 0.38 percent, 0.42 percent, 0.41 percent and 0.54 percent respectively.
The items, which recorded an increase in their average prices during the week over previous include onions (5.51 percent), LPG (5.29 percent), rice irri-6/9 (4.51 percent), tomatoes (4.18 percent), bananas (3.57 percent), rice basmati broken (3.56 percent), garlic (3.47 percent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (1.81 percent), pulse gram (1.74 percent), pulse moong (1.38 percent), eggs (0.94 percent), toilet soap lifebuoy (0.87 percent), bread plain (0.79 percent), masoor (0.75 percent), maash (0.72 percent), tea prepared (0.56 percent), mustard oil (0.53 percent), mutton (0.20 percent), curd (0.10 percent), cooking oil Daldaor other similar brand (sn), 5 litre tin each (0.07 percent), firewood whole 40 kg (0.05 percent), beef with bone (0.05 percent), energy saver (0.04 percent), cooked daal (0.04 percent) and vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1kg pouch each (0.04 percent).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023