Weekly inflation decreases 0.29%

ISLAMABAD: Weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), decreased by 0.29 per cent for the combined consumption groups during the week ended on May 22, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday.

According to PBS data, as compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 1.35 per cent.

The weekly SPI covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.The SPI for the lowest consumption group of up to Rs17,732 witnessed a decrease of 0.26 per cent and came down to 300.18 points from last week’s 300.97 points.

The SPI for consumption groups of Rs17,732 to 22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175 and above Rs44,175, came down 0.27 per cent, 0.26 per cent, 0.28 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 13 (25.49 per cent) items increased, 14 (27.45 per cent) items decreased and 24 (47.06 per cent) items remained stable.The items, which recorded major decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included chicken (7.26 per cent), onions (5.43 per cent), garlic (2.71 per cent), LPG (2.44 per cent), potatoes (0.95 per cent), mustard oil (0.80 per cent) diesel (0.78 per cent), pulse masoor (0.46 per cent), cooking oil (0.14 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (0.09 per cent), firewood (0.06 per cent), and vegetable ghee 2.5kg & sugar (0.05 per cent) each.

The commodities which recorded major increase in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included tomatoes(12.01 per cent), eggs (8.16 per cent), gur (1.5 per cent), bananas (1.0 per cent), pulse moong (0.79 per cent), wheat flour (0.63 per cent), pulse gram (0.39 per cent), powdered milk (0.36 per cent), rice basmati broken (0.34 per cent), pulse mash (0.3 per cent), mutton (0.26 per cent), energy saver (0.21 per cent) and beef (0.12 per cent).

Retail prices of refined sugar remain above the government-notified rate of Rs164 per kg in nearly all major cities across Pakistan, according to the PBS.The official data shows that the average price of sugar across cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Quetta ranged from Rs170 to Rs181 per kg, far exceeding the government’s ceiling price.

In Karachi, the average price was recorded at Rs177.71, with a maximum of Rs180 per kg. Lahore reported an average of Rs173.41, while Islamabad and Rawalpindi reported averages of Rs178.32 and Rs179.59, respectively.

The highest average was noted in Peshawar, where sugar was sold at Rs181.1 per kg, with peak retail prices touching Rs185.Year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed increase included ladies sandal (55.62 per cent), chicken (45.12 per cent), pulse moong (30.79 per cent), powdered milk (24.01 per cent), bananas (22.43 per cent), sugar (22.12 per cent), eggs (21.52 per cent), pulse gram (20.70 per cent), beef (17.56 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (13.86 per cent), LPG (13.05 per cent), and vegetable ghee 1kg (12.76 per cent).

The commodities which recorded a decrease in their average prices on year-on-year basis included onions (54.93 per cent), potatoes (30.46 per cent), garlic (29.43 per cent), electricity charges for q1 (29.4 per cent), tea Lipton (17.93 per cent), wheat flour (16.63 per cent), pulse mash (16.03 per cent), tomatoes (14.03 per cent), chilies powder (12.3 per cent), rice IRRI-6/9 (8.5 per cent), pulse masoor (7.64 per cent) and petrol (7.43 per cent).