The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation for combined income groups during the week ended on December 12, 2019 witnessed a reduction of 0.54 percent against December 5, 2019 as it came down from 130.77 points to 130.06 points, said the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), here on Tuesday.

According to the PBS, the weekly inflation related data based on 2015-16 mechanism covering 17 urban and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups on annual basis reached 18 percent from 110.24 points on December 13, 2018 to 130.06 points on December 12, 2019.

According to the data, the SPI for income group with monthly income of Rs 17,732 registered a decline of 0.88 percent on weekly basis from 135.18 points to 134 points while on annual basis it went up by 18.07 percent from 113.48 points to 134 points. For the income group of Rs 17,732-22,888, weekly SPI declined by 0.81 percent from 130.81 points to 129.75 points and on annual basis it witnessed an increase of 18.60 percent from 109.40 points to 129.75 points.

For the monthly income group of Rs 22,889-29,517, weekly inflation went down by 0.69 percent from 132.12 points to 131.21 points and on annual basis it went up by 20.88 percent from 108.55 points to 131.21 points. Weekly inflation for the income group with monthly income of Rs 29,518-44,175 went down by 0.61 percent from 128.91 points to 128.13 points and on annual basis the SPI for the above income group jumped up by 19.73 percent from 107.02 points to 128.13 points.

For the income group of Rs 44,175 or above, weekly inflation went down by 0.42 percent from 132.20 points to 131.65 points and on annual basis SPI for the income group witnessed an increase of 17.24 percent from 112.29 points to 131.65 points.

During the week under review, prices of the following 20 commodities witnessed an increase: eggs, bananas, plain bread, vegetable ghee, gram pulse, cooking oil, potatoes, Moong pulse, mustard oil, bath soap, fresh milk, liquefied petroleum gas, curd, toilet soap, prepared tea, mutton, firewood, cooked beef and raw beef.

While average prices of 9 items during the week under review registered reduction which include tomatoes, onions, sugar, garlic, chicken, Masoor pulse, Mash pulse, gur and wheat flour.