ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index (SPI)-based inflation for the current week, ended 2nd November 2023, increased by 0.71 percent due to rise in the prices of food items, including tomatoes (25.58 percent), onions (25.25 percent), chicken (10.79 percent), potatoes (1.61 percent) and eggs (1.30 percent), says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 29.88 per cent mainly due to an increase in the prices of gas charges for q1 (108.38 per cent), cigarettes (94.46 per cent), chilies powder (84.11 per cent), rice basmati broken (78.08 per cent), wheat flour (76.51 per cent), sugar (62.60 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (62.27 per cent), gents sponge chappal (58.05 per cent), tea Lipton (55.79 per cent), garlic (54.51 per cent) and gur (53.53 per cent) while a decrease is observed in the prices of tomatoes (26.26 per cent), onions (13.98 per cent), pulse gram (5.50 per cent), mustard oil (4.47 per cent) and vegetable ghee 1kg (1.97 per cent).

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 12 (23.53 per cent) items increased, 14 (27.45 per cent) items decreased, and 25 (49.02 per cent) items remained stable. The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 279.08 points against 277.11 points registered in the previous week, according to the PBS data released on Friday.

The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs17,732, Rs17,732-Rs22,888, Rs22,889 Rs29,517,Rs29,518-Rs44,175 and above Rs44,175 increased by 0.85 per cent, 0.86 per cent, 0.77 per cent, 0.76 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023