The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based inflation for combined income groups during the week ended November 14, 2019, witnessed an increase of 1.09 percent against November 7, 2019 as it jumped from 131.10 points to 132.53 points, data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said Monday.

According to the PBS weekly inflation related data based on 2015-16 mechanism covering 17 urban and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups, the SPI for combined income groups on annual basis recorded all time high increase of 19.62 percent and increased from 110.79 points on November 15, 2018 to 132.53 points on November 14, 2019.

According to data from November 15, 2018 to November 14, 2019, tomatoes prices witnessed an increase of 461.6 percent, onions, 173 percent, garlic, 132 percent, pulse Moong, 59 percent and potatoes by 44 percent.

According to the data, SPI for income group with monthly income of Rs 17,732 registered an increase of 1.68 percent on weekly basis from 135.29 points to 137.56 points and on annual basis it went up by 20.43 percent from 114.22 points to 137.56 points. For the income group of Rs 17,732-22,888, the SPI recorded an increase of 1.53 percent from 131.02 points to 133.02 points and on annual basis it witnessed an increase of 20.95 percent from 109.98 points to 133.02 points.

For the monthly income group of Rs 22,889-29,517, weekly inflation increased by 1.34 percent from 132.41 points to 134.18 points and on annual basis it went up by 22.91 percent from 109.17 points to 134.18 points. Weekly inflation for the income group with monthly income of Rs 29,518-44,175 jumped up by 1.23 percent from 129.28 points to 130.87 points and on annual basis SPI for the above income group jumped up by 21.52 percent from 107.7 points to 130.87 points.

For the income group of Rs 44,175 or above monthly income group, weekly inflation went up by 0.93 percent from 132.53 points to 133.76 points and on annual basis SPI for the income group witnessed an increase of 18.42 percent from 112.95 points to 133.76 points.

During the week under review, prices of the following 24 commodities witnessed an increase: tomatoes, onions, garlic, pulse Mash, pulse Masour, pulse gram, pulse Moong, wheat flour, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrol, potatoes, Lipton Yellow Label tea pack, powdered milk, Irri-6 rice, match box, broken basmati, prepared tea, beef and mutton.

While average prices of 6 items during the week under review registered a reduction which include, chicken, refined sugar, eggs, Gur, local bananas and electricity charges up-to 50 units.

According to the PBS, during the period prices of 21 items remained unchanged, including basmati rice, fresh milk, gents sandals, ladies sandals, yogurt, petrol super, telephone call charges, clothing, powdered salt and others.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019