ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based inflation for the week ended February 23, 2023, recorded an increase of 2.78 percent due to an increase in the prices of food items, including bananas (6.67 percent), chicken (5.27 percent), sugar (3.37 percent), cooking oil 5 litre (3.07 percent), and non-food items including gas charges for Q1 (108.38 percent) and cigarettes (76.45 percent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 41.54 per cent mainly due to an increase in the prices of onions (372.03 per cent), cigarettes (164.71 per cent), gas charges for Q1 (108.38 per cent), chicken (85.65 per cent), diesel (81.36 per cent), eggs (75.81 per cent), rice Irri-6/9 (75.41 per cent), rice basmati broken (74.16 per cent), bananas (72.22 per cent), pulse moong (70.39 per cent), petrol (69.87 per cent), tea Lipton (62.76 per cent), pulse gram (57.02 per cent), bread (55.36 percent), maash (53.90 per cent), and LPG (52.59 per cent), while decrease is observed in the prices of tomatoes (67.93 per cent), chillies powdered (7.42 per cent), and electricity charges for Q1 (6.64 per cent).

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 241.29 points against 234.77 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest PBS data released on Friday.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 33 (64.71 per cent) items increased, six (11.76 per cent) items decreased, and 12 (23.53 per cent) items remained stable.

The items, which recorded increase in their average prices during the week over previous include gas charges (108.38 per cent), cigarettes Capstan (76.45 per cent), bananas (6.67 per cent), chicken (5.27 per cent), sugar (3.37 per cent), cooking oil Dalda or other similar brand (SN), 5 litre in each (3.07 per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib 2.5kg tin each (2.79 per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1kg pouch each (2.20 per cent), tea prepared (1.09 per cent), masoor (0.99 per cent), cooked daal (0.97 per cent), electricity charges (0.94 per cent), rice IRRI-6/9 (0.74 per cent), rice basmati broken (0.66 per cent), toilet soap (0.59 per cent), cooked beef (0.58 per cent), milk fresh (0.53 per cent), moong (0.52 per cent), lawn printed Gul Ahmed/Al Karam (0.50 per cent), Sufi washing soap (0.47 per cent), potatoes (0.45 per cent), beef with bone (0.44 per cent), energy saver (0.41 per cent), Georgette (0.39 per cent), gur (0.39 per cent), curd (0.37 per cent), long cloth 57” Gul Ahmed/Al Karam (0.33 per cent), maash (0.29 per cent), powdered milk (0.26 per cent), firewood whole (0.15 per cent), mutton (0.15 per cent), wheat flour bag 20kg (0.14 per cent), and mustard oil (0.04 per cent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023