ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation for the week ended 12th October 2023, increased by 0.30 percent due to an increase in the prices of food items, tomatoes (6.28 per cent), eggs (3.48 per cent), cooked beef (1.06 per cent), garlic (1.04 per cent), potatoes (0.35 per cent) and non-food item, electricity charges for q1 (8.59 per cent), energy sever (0.55 per cent), and LPG (0.31 per cent), says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 38.28 per cent mainly due to an increase in the prices of electricity charges for q1 (136.89 per cent), gas charges for q1 (108.38 per cent), cigarettes (95.36 per cent), rice basmati broken (86.21 per cent), chilies powder (84.84 per cent), wheat flour (79.28 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (75.98 per cent), sugar (71.87 per cent), gur (65.09 per cent), salt powdered (60.78 per cent), tea Lipton (58.75 per cent) and gents sponge chappal (58.05 per cent), while a decrease is observed in the prices of tomatoes (43.53 per cent), onions (16.67 per cent), pulse gram (4.01 per cent), and mustard oil (1.19 per cent).

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 282.86 points against 282 points registered in the previous week, according to the PBS data released on Friday.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 17 (33.33 per cent) items increased, 17 (33.33 per cent) items decreased and 17 (33.33 per cent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs17,732, Rs17,732-Rs22,888, Rs22,889-Rs29,517 for the above Rs44,175 increased by 0.25 per cent, 0.51 per cent, 0.16 per cent and 0.25 per cent respectively while it decreased for the consumption group of Rs29,518-Rs44,175 by 0.02 per cent.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023