Weekly SPI jumps 1.28pc

ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation rate measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) rose by 1.28 per cent during the week ending July 4 over the previous week’s price hike, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Friday.

Notably, the increase follows a 0.73 per cent decline last week and a 0.94 per cent rise the previous week.The SPI gauges mostly the prices of kitchen items every week. The rise in the index this week was mostly due to significant hikes in the prices of tomatoes, wheat flour, powdered milk, energy, and pulses.

Year-on-year, the SPI increased by 23.59 per cent over the same week of last year’s price indicators.The SPI, which tracks the prices of 51 essential items, saw prices of 29 items increase, 5 decrease, and 17 remain unchanged compared to the previous week.

In one week, notable increases were recorded in the prices of tomatoes, which increased by 70.8 per cent to Rs204/kg; wheat flour by 10.6 per cent to Rs1,970/20kg bag; powdered milk by 8.9 per cent to Rs928 per 390-gram polybag; diesel by 3.58 per cent to Rs278.5/litre; petrol by 2.88 per cent to Rs266.7/litre; gram pulse by 2.87 per cent to Rs319/kg; moong pulse by 2.86 per cent to Rs334/kg; chicken farm (live) by 2.4 per cent to Rs321/kg; and LPG prices by 1.63 per cent to Rs3,076/11.67kg cylinder. Likewise, garlic prices increased by 1.54 per cent to Rs472/kg; masoor pulse by 1.1 per cent to Rs322/kg; and sugar prices increased by 0.93 per cent to Rs145/kg.

Some items saw price reductions: onions decreased by 9.05 per cent to Rs115/kg; potatoes by 1.04 per cent to Rs98/kg; eggs by 0.8 per cent to Rs248/dozen; and bananas by 0.6 per cent to Rs165/dozen.

The weekly percentage change by income groups showed that the SPI increased across all quantiles ranging from 1.23 per cent to 1.44 per cent. The lowest income group experienced a weekly uptick of 1.44 per cent, while the highest income group saw a decline of 1.23 per cent.

On a yearly basis, the SPI also increased across all quantiles ranging between 16.97 per cent and 26.45 per cent. The yearly SPI for the lowest income group increased by 16.97 per cent, while the highest income group recorded an increase of 21.39 per cent.

On a year-on-year basis, gas prices hiked by 570 per cent for the lowest consumer slab, followed by a 161 per cent spike in tomato prices. Similarly, onion prices increased by 79 per cent, chili powder by 55 per cent, and garlic by 36 per cent. Gram pulse was also more expensive by 32 per cent, powdered salt by 30 per cent, shirting fabric by 27 per cent, moong pulse and powdered milk by 26 per cent each. Gentlemen’s sandals were costlier by 25 per cent, mash pulse and beef by 22 per cent each. Similarly, electricity for the lowest slab (Q1) and LPG were more expensive by 21 per cent each over the previous year.

Conversely, on a year-on-year basis, wheat flour was cheaper by 28 per cent, chicken by 28 per cent, 5-liter cooking oil by 15 per cent, vegetable ghee by 13 per cent, mustard oil by 8 per cent, bananas by 4.5 per cent, Lipton tea by 2.5 per cent, and broken basmati rice was cheaper by 1.4 per cent compared to prices from the same week last year.