ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ended August 25, 2022, recorded an increase of 44.58 percent on a year-on-year basis, mainly due to an increase in prices of food and non-food items, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

The SPI for the week ended August 25, 2022, recorded an increase of 1.83 per cent on a week-on-week basis due to an increase in food items prices including tomatoes (43.09per cent), onions (41.13per cent), potatoes (6.32 per cent), eggs (3.43 per cent), garlic (2.23 per cent), powdered milk (1.53 per cent) and pulse mash (1.12 per cent) and non-food items cigarettes (2.26 per cent) and LPG (1.95 per cent).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 44.58 percent mainly due to an increase in prices of tomatoes (178.10 per cent), onions (155.14 per cent), diesel (108.77 per cent), petrol (94.53 per cent), masoor (90.74 per cent), cooking oil 5 litre (70.61 per cent), mustard oil (67.58 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (64.71 per cent), vegetable ghee 1 kg (63.93 per cent), washing soap (63.27 per cent), electricity for q1 (63.03 per cent), chicken (55.76 per cent), and pulse gram (55.07 per cent), while a decrease observed in the prices of chilies powder (43.42 per cent), sugar (16.90 per cent), and gur (1.21 per cent).

According to the latest data, the SPI went up from 216.02 per cent during the week ended August 18, 2022 to 219.97 per cent during the week under review.

The SPI for the consumption groups up to Rs17,732, Rs17,733 to Rs22,888, Rs22,889 to Rs29,517, Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 and for above Rs44,175 increased by 2.66 per cent, 2.44 per cent, 2.16 per cent, two per cent, and 1.53 per cent respectively. During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 23 (45.10 per cent) items increased, 07 (13.72 per cent) items decreased and 21 (41.18 per cent) items remained stable, says the PBS.

The items the prices of which increased included tomatoes (43.09 per cent), onions (41.13 per cent), potatoes (6.32 per cent), toilet soap Lifebuoy (3.68 per cent), eggs (3.43 per cent), cigarettes Capstan 20’s packet each (2.26 per cent), garlic (2.23 per cent), LPG (1.95 per cent), powdered milk Nido390 gm polybag each (1.53 per cent), maash (1.12 per cent), chicken (0.91 per cent), moong (0.90 per cent), Sufi washing soap (0.84 per cent), matchbox (0.75 per cent), gur (0.74 per cent), firewood whole 40kg (0.71 per cent), tea Lipton Yellow Label (0.64 per cent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (0.58 per cent), pulse gram (0.35 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (0.27 per cent), rice basmati broken (0.14 per cent), beef with bone (0.10 per cent) and mutton (0.04 per cent).

The items which registered a decrease in prices include masoor (1.18 per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1kg pouch each (1 per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib 2.5 kg tin each (0.82 per cent), bananas (0.61 per cent), cooking oil Dalda or other similar brand (sn), 5 litre tin each (0.51 per cent), sugar (0.28 per cent), and mustard oil (0.07 per cent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022