Weekly SPI inches down

KARACHI: The Sensitive price indicator (SPI) for the week ended August 22 decreased 0.08 percent over the previous week; however, the poorest quintile that earns only up to Rs8,000/month registered an increase of 0.04 percent in SPI inflation, official data showed on Friday.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed that weekly inflation for the combined income group declined to 271.83 points against 272.05 points recorded in the week ended on August 16. But it increased a whopping 18.91 percent as compared to weekly inflation in the corresponding period last year.

SPI for income group of up to Rs8,000 increased 0.04 percent during the week under review as compared to the preceding week, while registering 15.63 percent increase compared to weekly inflation in the corresponding period last year.

Weekly inflation for the group earning Rs8,001 to Rs12,000 decreased 0.02 percent. The SPI for the people earning between Rs12,001 and Rs18,000 declined 0.02; and for those making Rs18,001 and Rs35,000 it fell 0.10 percent.

The income group earning above Rs35,000 recorded the most decline in inflation at 0.12 percent; however, the weekly SPI increased a whopping 21.81 percent for this quintile compared to the weekly inflation in the corresponding period last year. PBS computes weekly price trend of 53 essential items from 17 urban centres. Average prices of only seven commodities declined during the week ended on August 22 over the previous week.

Items that recorded the highest decrease in prices were tomatoes, down 8.85 percent to Rs52.04/kg, and chicken, down 7.93 percent to Rs193.62/kg. Other items were garlic, LPG cylinder, potatoes, and red and yellow lentils. During the week, prices of 24 goods increased, including onions, soap, plain bread, vegetable ghee and oil, gur, sugar, pulse gram and mash, eggs, wheat and wheat flour, red chilli powder, mutton and beef, mustard oil, basmati rice, milk and curd, kerosene oil, and firewood.

Average prices of 22 items remained unchanged during the week under review, which included cloth, shoes, utility charges, salt, tea, rice irri-6, powdered milk, petrol, high speed diesel, and telephone charges.