Weekly SPI rises 0.17pc

KARACHI: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has shown a slight increase of 0.17 per cent for the week ending July 25.

The week-on-week change is also less than last week’s SPI of 0.76 per cent. The key highlight of the PBS report is that the year-on-year inflation rate stands at 20.09 per cent, lowest after two years.

Key contributors to this week’s price hike include essential food items such as chicken (5.0 per cent), garlic (2.0 per cent), pulses (2.0 per cent), eggs (2.0 per cent), and beef (1.0 per cent). The prices of cigarettes and energy-related products like firewood have also increased.The SPI, which monitors the prices of 51 essential items, showed a year-on-year increase of 20.09 per cent, down from 24.36 per cent the previous week. Of the 51 items tracked, 19 became more expensive, eight became cheaper, and 24 remained unchanged.

In just one week, the price of live chicken farm increased by 4.8 per cent to Rs431.28 per kilogram; powdered milk rose by 0.14 per cent to Rs1,030.68 per 390-gram polybag; firewood increased by 0.23 per cent to Rs1,198 per 40kg; farm eggs rose by 1.71 per cent to Rs257.12 per dozen; gram plus by 1.87 per cent to Rs338.925 per kilogramme; garlic by 2.01 per cent to Rs494.05 per kilogramme; and beef with bone increased by 0.93 per cent to Rs974.84 per kilogramme. Other notable increases included fresh milk, up 0.45 per cent, sugar up 0.36 per cent, and cigarettes up 0.12 per cent over the previous week.

Conversely, some items saw price reductions. Tomato prices dropped by 9.19 per cent to Rs142.22 per kilogram; bananas decreased by 0.53 per cent to Rs156.44 per dozen; onions fell by 2.14 per cent to Rs110.08 per kilogram; and LPG cylinder reduced by 1.04 per cent to Rs3042.63 per 11.67 kilogramme compared to the previous week.

On a year-on-year basis, gas prices for the lowest consumer slab skyrocketed by 570 per cent. Onion prices surged by 96.01 per cent, and gram pulse by 40.39 per cent. Prices of powdered milk rose by 39.11 per cent, garlic by 34.61 per cent, beef by 23.52 per cent, salt powder by 23.28 per cent, and moong pulse by 29.77 per cent.The price of men’s sandals, shirting and energy saver increased by 25 per cent, 24.97 per cent, and 17.96 per cent, respectively. Mash pulse prices also rose by 22.5 per cent.

In contrast, the price of wheat flour decreased by 31.75 per cent, cooking oil (5-litre) by 13.44 per cent, vegetable ghee (2.5kg) by 10.42 per cent, mustard oil by 8.33 per cent, and eggs, basmati rice (broken), and Lipton tea by 5.82 per cent, 4.15 per cent, and 2.52 per cent, respectively, over the same week last year.