ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based inflation for the week ended March 22, 2023, recorded an increase of 1.80 percent due to an increase in the prices of food items including tomatoes (71.77 percent), wheat flour (42.32 percent), potatoes (11.47 percent), bananas (11.07 percent), tea Lipton (7.34 percent), maash (1.57 percent) and non-food items Georgette (2.11 percent), lawn (1.77 percent) and long cloth (1.58 percent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 46.65 percent mainly due to an increase in the prices of onions (228.28 percent), cigarettes (165.88 percent), wheat flour (120.66 percent), gas charges for q1 (108.38 percent), diesel (102.84 percent), tea Lipton (94.60 percent), bananas (89.84 percent), rice irri-6/9 (81.51 percent), rice basmati broken (81.22 percent), petrol (81.17 percent), eggs (79.56 percent), pulse moong (68.64 percent), potatoes (57.21 percent) and pulse mash (56.46 percent), while a decrease is observed in the price of chillies powdered (9.56 percent).
The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 250.66 points against 246.22 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest PBS data released on Friday.
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 26 (50.98 percent) items increased, 12 (23.53 percent) items decreased and 13 (25.49 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 increased by 2.90 percent, 2.83 percent, 2.52 percent, 2.21 percent, and 1.21 percent respectively. The items, which recorded increase in their average prices during the week over previous include tomatoes (71.77 percent), wheat flour bag 20kg (42.32 percent), potatoes (11.47 percent), bananas (11.07 percent), tea Lipton Yellow Label (7.34 percent), rice basmati broken (2.50 percent), Georgette (2.11 percent), lawn printed Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(1.77 percent), long cloth 57” Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(1.58 percent), maash (1.57 percent), rice irri-6/9 (1.54 percent), cooked beef (1.53 percent), tea prepared (1.32 percent), salt powdered (1.07 percent), gur (1.03 percent), mutton (0.93 percent), beef with bone (0.89 percent), Sufi washing soap (0.68 percent), sugar (0.58 percent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib 2.5kg tin each (0.56 percent), shirting (0.44 percent), curd (0.35 percent), powdered milk Nido390 gm polybag each (0.18 percent), cooked daal(0.17 percent), milk fresh (0.08 percent) and cigarettes Capstan 20’s packet each (0.01 percent).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023