Combined income groups: SPI inflation down 2.01 percent WoW

The SPI inflation during the week ended April 2 against March 26 on Week-on-Week (WoW) basis witnessed a reduction of 2.01 percent for combined income groups, ie, from 128.10 points to 125.52 points, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) revealed.
According to the PBS, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) on Year-on-Year (YoY) basis during (April 4, 2019 to April 2, 2020) witnessed an increase of 9.27 percent from 114.87 points to 125.52 points.
The PBS has attributed reduction in the SPI to a decline in the prices of food and non-food items including tomatoes 19.66 percent, milk fresh 4.78 percent, onions 4.75 percent, eggs 3.42 percent, potatoes 2.80 percent, curd 2.57 percent, vegetable ghee 2.5kg 0.90 percent, vegetable ghee 1kg 0.85 percent, cooking oil 5kg 0.83 percent, chicken 0.45 percent, wheat flour 0.37 percent, and mustard oil 0.10 percent, and among non-food items LPG 13.75 percent, with joint impact of -2.19 into the overall SPI for combined group of 2.01 percent.
According to the PBS data, during the week, an increase was observed in the prices of moong pulse 7.66 percent, masoor pulse 7.22 percent, gram pulse 4.14 percent, mash pulse 2.91 percent, bananas 2.71 percent, and gur 1.20 percent.
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 13 (25.49 percent of the basket) items increased, prices of 14 items (27.45 percent of the basket) decreased, and prices of 24 items (47.05 percent of the basket) remained constant.
On YoY basis, prices of the following items witnessed an increase: potatoes 105.40 percent, garlic 86.28 percent, onions 83.55 percent, moong pulse 82.19 percent, mash pulse 55.90 percent, eggs 42.52 percent, cigarettes 30.71 percent, vegetable ghee 1kg 30.34 percent, pulse masoor 29.91 percent, vegetable ghee 2.5kg 29.69 percent, gur 29.02 percent, gram pulse 27.88 percent, sugar 26.47 percent, cooking oil 5kg 22.91 percent, plain bread 20.69 percent, Sufi washing soap 18.11 percent, wheat flour 17.03 percent, long cloth 15.95 percent, shirting 15.74 percent, and Nido powdered milk 15.04 percent.
While on annual basis, prices of following commodities witnessed a decline: tomatoes 51.41 percent, chicken 28.44 percent, hi-speed diesel 8.36 percent, electricity for Q1 6.33 percent, petrol 2.23 percent, and bananas 1.02 percent.
The SPI for the monthly income group up to Rs17,732 registered a decline of 1.77 percent from 133.39 points to 131.03 points on WoW basis, and on YoY basis, it recorded an increase of 10.44 percent from 118.64 points to 131.03 points.
For the income group with monthly income of Rs17,732-22,888, weekly inflation registered a reduction of 1.91 percent from 127.98 points to 125.54 points, while on annual basis, it witnessed an increase of 9.50 percent from 114.55 points to 125.54 points.
For the monthly income group of Rs22,889-29,517, the SPI went down by 1.95 percent from 130.18 points to 127.64 points, while on annual basis it went up by 12.66 percent, from 113.30 points to 127.64 points.
Weekly inflation for the income group with monthly income of Rs29,518-44,175 went down by 2.1 percent from 127.18 points to 124.51 points, while on annual basis the SPI for the above income group went up by 11.65 percent, from 111.52 points to 124.5 points.
For the Rs44,175 or above monthly income groups, weekly inflation registered a decline of 2.00 percent from 129.49 points to 126.90 points, and on annual basis, the SPI for the above income group went up by 8.27 percent from 117.21 points to 126.90 points.
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 19 items increased, which is 37.25 percent of the total, while prices of five, witnessed a reduction, which is 9.80 of the basket items, and prices of 27 items remained unchanged, which 52.94 of the basket.