Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based weekly inflation for the week ended on April 23, for the combined consumption group, witnessed an increase of 0.62 percent, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported Friday.
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 125.93 points against 125.16 points registered in the previous week.
The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 is covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.
The Sensitive Price Indicator for the lowest consumption group upto Rs 17,732 witnessed 0.91 percent decrease and went up from 130.14 points in last week to 131.32 points during the week under review.
Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs. 17,733-22,888, Rs. 22,889-29,517, Rs. 29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175 per month increased by 0.82 percent, 0.72 percent, 0.68 percent and 0.52 percent respectively.
During the week, prices of 12 items decreased, 14 items decreased while that of 25 items remained constant.
The items, which recorded decrease in their average prices included tomatoes, eggs, gram pulse, masoor pulse, LPG Cylinder, mash pulse, moong pulse, cooking oil, vegetable ghee (tin) wheat flour, vegetable ghee(loose) and sugar.
The commodities, which recorded increase in their average prices included potatoes, onions, bananas, chicken, garlic, milk (fresh), rice (Irri-6/9), curd, gur, rice (Basmati broken), mutton, beef, mustard oil and firewood.
Similarly, the prices of the commodities that observed no change in their price during the week under review included bread, milk (powdered), salt, chilllies, tea (packet), cooked beef, cooked daal, tea (prepared), cigarettes, long cloth, shirting, lawn, georgette, gents sandal, gents sponge chappal, ladies sandal, electricity charges, gas charges, energy saver, washing soap, match box, petrol, diesel, telephone call charges and toilet soap.
According to the PBS analysis, this increase was mainly due to a rise in prices of food items i.e. potatoes (24.75%), onions (9.39%), bananas (4.72%), chicken (4.68%), garlic (2.65%), milk fresh (1.33%), rice Irri (1.15%) and curd (1.12%) with joint impact of 0.86 into the overall SPI for combined group of (0.62%).
