The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), a measure of weekly inflation, saw a 0.78% increase for the combined consumption group during the week ending on August 17, as reported by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.
The SPI for the mentioned week within this consumption group stood at 275.57 points, in contrast to the previous week’s 273.43 points, based on PBS data. Comparing the same week of the previous year, the SPI for the combined consumption group exhibited a notable 27.57% surge.
The weekly SPI, based on the 2015-16 =100 index, covers 17 urban centers and 51 essential items across all expenditure groups.
In the lowest consumption group up to Rs 17,732, the SPI increased by 0.36%, reaching 280.67 points from the previous week’s 279.66 points.
For consumption groups ranging from Rs 17,732-22,888, Rs 22,889-29,517, Rs 29,518-44,175, and above Rs 44,175, the SPI increased by 0.43%, 0.51%, 0.64%, and 0.98% respectively.
During the week, out of the 51 items, the prices of 32 (62.75%) items increased, 07 (13.72%) items decreased, and 12 (23.53%) items remained stable.
Items that experienced a decrease in average prices on a week-on-week (WoW) basis include tomatoes (13.60%), 5-liter cooking oil (1.65%), 2.5 kg vegetable ghee (0.85%), 1 kg vegetable ghee (0.43%), firewood (0.42%), mustard oil (0.23%), and wheat flour (0.19%).
Items that showed an increase in average prices on a WoW basis include chillies powder (7.58%), rice irri-6/9 (7.48%), garlic (5.06%), sugar (4.02%), gur (3.23%), rice basmati broken (3.06%), chicken (2.83%), bananas (2.72%), diesel (7.29%), and petrol (6.40%).
Commodities that witnessed a decrease in price on a Year-on-Year (YOY) basis included onions (28.85%), Q1 electricity charges (21.96%), pulse masoor (14.85%), and 1 kg vegetable ghee (1.20%).
On a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, commodities that saw an increase in average prices included wheat flour (131.29%), Q1 gas charges (108.38%), cigarettes (106.89%), tea packet (95.19%), rice basmati broken (88.76%), chillies powder (86.05%), rice irri-6/9 (84.16%), sugar (74.71%), gur (63.00%), chicken (58.56%), gents sponge chappal (58.05%), potatoes (56.30%), and powdered salt (49.09%).
