ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based inflation for the week ended July 20, 2023, decreased by 0.07 per cent due to a decrease in the prices of food items, onions (10.29 per cent), chicken (8.57 per cent), bananas (8.34 per cent), wheat flour (0.98 per cent), vegetable ghee 1kg (0.49 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.39 per cent) and cooking oil 5 litre (0.30 per cent), non-food items, petrol (3.40 per cent), and diesel (2.64 per cent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 29.16per cent mainly due to an increase in the prices of wheat flour (126.82 per cent), cigarettes (110.75 per cent), gas charges for q1 (108.38 per cent), tea Lipton (98.99 per cent), rice basmati broken (79.37 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (74.14 per cent), sugar (66.18 per cent), potatoes (60.32 per cent), gents sponge chappal (58.05 per cent), tomatoes (57.58 per cent), gur (54.21 per cent), salt powdered (53.83 per cent) and bread (46.93 per cent), while decrease is observed in the prices of onions (35.27 per cent), electricity for q1 (14.58 per cent), masoor (8.08 per cent), LPG (1.06 per cent), and vegetable ghee 1kg (0.51 per cent).

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 258.45 points against 258.63 points registered in the previous week, according to the PBS data released on Friday.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 30 (58.82 per cent) items increased, nine (17.65 per cent) items decreased, and 12 (23.53 per cent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs17,732, Rs17,732-Rs22,888, Rs22,889-Rs29,517 and Rs29,518-Rs44,175 increased by 0.51 per cent, 0.35 per cent, 0.20 per cent and 0.03per cent respectively, while it decreased by 0.28per cent for above Rs44,175 consumption group.

The items, which recorded an increase in their average prices during the week over the previous include tomatoes (36.06per cent), chilies powder National 200 gm packet each (20.17per cent), sugar (4.77per cent), eggs (4.70per cent), gur (3.66per cent), shirting (2.64per cent), garlic (2.31per cent), salt powdered (1.80per cent), rice irri-6/9 (1.76per cent), Georgette (1.64per cent), tea prepared (1.35per cent), cooked daal (1.31per cent),rice basmati broken (1.29per cent), match box (1.09per cent), energy saver Philips (0.91per cent), masoor (0.84per cent), bread plain (0.75per cent), potatoes (0.71per cent), long cloth 57” Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(0.64per cent), moong (0.62per cent), LPG (0.55per cent), lawn printed Gul Ahmed/Al Karam(0.48per cent), mustard oil (0.36per cent), curd (0.27per cent), beef with bone (0.25per cent), pulse gram (0.20per cent), milk fresh (0.20per cent), powdered milk Nido390 gm polybag each (0.18per cent), cooked beef (0.17per cent), and maash (0.04per cent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023