KARACHI; Weekly inflation rose by 0.81 percent in the week ending on Jan. 4, driven by higher prices of food items such as tomatoes, chicken, eggs and onions, official data showed on Friday, adding to the woes of the inflation-hit Pakistanis.
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), which tracks the prices of 51 essential items, increased to 42.86 percent year-on-year, compared with 43.25 percent in the previous week, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The SPI number on a year-on-year basis shows the eighth straight week of weekly inflation above 40 percent. The government has been struggling to contain inflation, which has eroded the purchasing power of the people.
The central bank has kept policy rate, after 700 basis points increased, at record 22 since July 2022 to curb inflationary pressures and support the currency, which has depreciated by about 25 percent against the dollar in 2023.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which approved a $3 billion loan package for Pakistan in July last year, has projected that inflation will average 23.6 percent in the fiscal year 2023/24, which ends in June, and ease to 17.6 percent in the next fiscal year.
The PBS data showed that the combined index was at 313.66 compared to 311.14 on December 28, 2023, while the index was recorded at 219.56 a year ago, on January 05, 2023.
During the week, prices of 19 item (37.25 percent) increased, 09 (17.65 percent) items decreased and 23 (45.10 percent) items remained stable.
Tomatoes, chicken, eggs, onions, bananas, sugar and LPG were among the items that saw major price increases during the week, while potatoes, tea, garlic, cooking oil, vegetable ghee and wheat flour saw major price decreases. The prices of tomatoes were increases by 16.04 percent, chicken 13.98 percent, eggs 3.20 percent, onions 3.04 percent, bananas 2.13 percent, pulse gram 2.12 percent, sugar 2.04 percent, pulse moong 1.68 percent, LPG 1.19 percent, firewood 0.51 percent and georgette 0.23 percent.
On the other hand major decrease is observed in the prices of potatoes 8.68 percent, tea Lipton 1.29 percent, garlic 0.68 percent, cooking oil 5 Litre & vegetable ghee 2.5 KG 0.54 percent, each, washing soap 0.47 percent, pulse mash 0.36 percent, wheat flour bag 0.23 percent and vegetable ghee 1 KG 0.08 percent.
The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 0.79 percent and 0.84 percent.
The lowest income group witnessed a weekly rise of 0.81 percent while the highest income group recorded a rise of 0.8 percent. On a yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 35.33 percent and 46.38 percent. Yearly SPI forthe lowest income group increased by 35.33 percent while the highest income group recorded an increase of 41.35 percent.
The year on year trend depicts increase of 42.86 percent, gas charges for Q1 (1,108.59 percent), tomatoes (94.05 percent), cigarettes (93.22 percent), chilies powder (81.74 percent), garlic (67.88 percent), wheat flour bag (65.36 percent), gents sponge chappal (58.05 percent), sugar (57.76 percent), rice IRRI-6/9 (54.52 percent), gents sandal (53.37 percent), rice basmati broken (51.45 percent), and gur (48.07 percent) while decrease is observed in the prices of onions (12.25 percent), mustard oil (5.40 percent), vegetable ghee 1 KG (1.11 percent) and bananas (1.01 percent).
