SPI inflation up 0.36 percent

ISLAMABAD: The sensitive price indicator (SPI) inflation increased 0.36 percent for the week ended May 7 for the combined consumption group, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday.

The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 127.30 points against 126.84 points registered in the previous week, the data released by SBP revealed.

The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.

SPI for the lowest consumption group earning up to Rs17,732 witnessed 0.89 percent decrease and went up from 132.18 points in last week to 133.36 points during the week under review.

Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs17,733-Rs22,888, Rs22,889-Rs29,517, Rs29,518-Rs44,175, and above Rs44,175 per month increased by 0.88 percent, 0.78 percent, 0.65 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.

During the week, prices of 12 items decreased, 16 items increased, while prices of 23 items remained constant. The commodities, which recorded increase in their average prices included chicken, bananas, potatoes, LPG cylinder, gur, chilli powder, mutton, beef, mash pulse, fresh and powdered milk, eggs, firewood, and moong pulse.

According to the PBS analysis, this increase was mainly due to a rise in prices of food items chicken (23.68 percent), bananas (7.40 percent), potatoes (5.14 percent), gur (1.26 percent), and chilli powder (1.08 percent) and non-food items, such as LPG (3.85 percent) and long cloth (1.24 percent) with joint impact of 1.33 into the overall SPI for combined group of (0.36 percent).