ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the week ended March 21, 2024, declined by 1.13 per cent due to a decline in the prices of tomatoes (36.73 per cent), onions (19.58 per cent), potatoes (4.02 per cent), garlic (2.87 per cent), maash (1.25 per cent), wheat flour (1.02 per cent), sugar (0.95 per cent), and diesel (0.60 per cent), says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 29.06 per cent, mainly due to increase in the prices of gas charges for Q1 (570 per cent), chilies powder (86.05 per cent), gents sponge chappal (58.05 per cent), garlic (57.41 per cent), onions (54.65 per cent), gents sandal (53.37 per cent), gur (39.86 per cent), sugar (35.01 per cent), salt powder (33.29 per cent), energy saver (29.83 per cent), and maash (27.31 per cent) while a decrease is observed in the prices of cooking oil 5 litre (21.35 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (18.48 per cent), vegetable ghee 1 kg (18.44 per cent), mustard oil (13.90 per cent), bananas (13.52 per cent), diesel (2.47 per cent) and cigarettes (0.06 per cent).

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 09 (17.65 per cent) items increased, 17 (33.33 per cent) items decreased and 25 (49.02 per cent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 323.50 points against 327.21 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 decreased by 1.83 per cent, 1.64 per cent, 1.34 per cent, 1.25 per cent, and 0.91 per cent respectively.

The items, prices of which, increased during the period under review include LPG (1.49 per cent), shirting (0.74 per cent), beef with bone (0.53 per cent), rice basmati broken (0.48 per cent), mutton (0.42 per cent), mustard oil (0.40 per cent), rice IRRI-6/9 (0.25 per cent), powdered milk Nido390 gm polybag each (0.14 per cent), and Georgette (0.03 per cent).

The items, prices of which, declined during the period under review include tomatoes (36.73 per cent), onions (19.58 per cent), potatoes (4.02 per cent), garlic (2.87 per cent), maash (1.25 per cent), wheat flour bag 20kg (1.02 per cent), sugar (0.95 per cent), masoor (0.86 per cent), hi-speed diesel (0.60 per cent), eggs (0.46 per cent), moong (0.28 per cent), pulse gram (0.27 per cent), cooking oil Dalda or other similar brand (sn), 5-litre tin each (0.23 per cent), chicken (0.16 per cent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib 2.5kg tin each (0.15 per cent), bananas (0.01 per cent), and gur (0.01 per cent).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024