ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based inflation for the week ended on 14th September 2023 decreased by 0.25 percent due to a decrease in the prices of food items, sugar (9.11 percent), chicken (5.47 percent), eggs (2.79 percent), pulse gram (0.57 percent), and vegetable ghee 1kg (0.16 percent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 26.25 per cent mainly due to an increase in the prices of wheat flour (114.37 per cent), gas charges for q1 (108.38 per cent), cigarettes (98.11 per cent), rice basmati broken (91.07 per cent), sugar (90.27 per cent), chilies powder (84.84 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (82.03 per cent),tea Lipton (76.19 per cent), gur (73.95 per cent), gents sponge chappal (58.05 per cent), salt powdered (55.08 per cent), gents sandal (53.37 per cent), bread (45.79 per cent), and powdered milk (43.05 per cent), while a decrease is observed in the prices of tomatoes (24.55 per cent), electricity charges for q1 (21.96 per cent), onions (5.31 per cent) and pulse gram (0.26 per cent).

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 279.18 points against 279.89 points registered in the previous week, according to the PBS data released on Friday.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 24 (47.06 per cent) items increased, eight (15.69 per cent) items decreased, and 19 (37.25 per cent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs17,732, Rs17,732-Rs22,888, Rs22,889-Rs29,517 and Rs29,518-Rs44,175 and for above Rs44,175 consumption group decreased by 0.21 per cent, 0.23 per cent, 0.25 per cent, 0.27 per cent, and 0.27 per cent respectively.

The items, which recorded an increase in their average prices during the week over the previous include tomatoes (4.29 per cent), garlic (4.21 per cent), bread plain (3.92 per cent), onions (3.60 per cent), masoor (3.19 per cent), salt powdered (2.77 per cent), shirting (1.68 per cent), moong (1.66 per cent), lawn printed Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(1.32 per cent), maash (1.25 per cent), long cloth 57” Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(1.18 per cent), LPG (0.98 per cent), Georgette (0.77 per cent), gur (0.77 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (0.54 per cent), rice basmati broken (0.54 per cent), powdered milk Nido390 gm polybag each (0.43 per cent), potatoes (0.41 per cent), wheat flour bag 20kg (0.39 per cent), curd (0.30 per cent), cooked daal(0.22 per cent), mustard oil (0.19 per cent), milk fresh (0.18 per cent), and tea prepared (0.06 per cent).

The items, which recorded a decrease in their average prices during the week over the previous include sugar (9.11 per cent), chicken (5.47 per cent), eggs (2.79 per cent), bananas (0.86 per cent), tea Lipton Yellow Label 190 gm packet each (0.59 per cent), pulse gram (0.57 per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1kg pouch each (0.16 per cent) and cooking oil Dalda or other similar brands (sn), 5-litre tin each (0.10 per cent).