Weekly SPI inflation down 0.01pc

ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation for the week ended on April 7 for the combined income group witnessed decrease of 0.01 percent as compared to the previous week.

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week under review in the group was recorded at 216.65 points against 216.67 points registered in the previous week, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data said on Friday.

However, as compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined group in the week under review increased by 3.61 percent. The weekly SPI has been computed with base 2007-08-100 covering 17 urban centres and 53 essential items for all income groups and combined.

Meanwhile, the SPI for the lowest income group up to Rs8,000 also decreased by 0.07 percent as it went down from 207.77 points in the previous week to 207.63 points in the week under review.

As compared to the last week, the SPI for the income groups from Rs8,001 to Rs12,000, Rs12,001 to Rs18,000, and Rs18,001 to Rs35,000 also decreased by 0.06 percent, 0.05 percent, 0.03 percent, and 0.05 percent respectively.

During the week under review, average prices of 10 items registered decrease, 13 increase, with the prices of the remaining 30 items unchanged. The items which registered decrease in their prices during the week under review included garlic, chicken live (farm), potatoes, tea, wheat, onions, bananas, egg hen (farm), wheat flour (bag), and cooking oil (tin).  The items which recorded increase in their average prices included tomatoes, petrol, LNG, cylinder, match box, hi-speed diesel, pulse gram (washed), pulse mash (washed), vegetable ghee (pouch), red chilli powder, gur, mustard oil, mutton, and beef.