The SPI inflation during the week that ended March 26 against March 19 witnessed a reduction of 1.25 percent for combined income groups, ie, from 129.72 points to 128.10 points, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) revealed.
The PBS has attributed the reduction in the Sensitive Price Indicator to a decline in the prices of food and non-food items, especially chicken with 17.69 percent reduction, gur 0.48 percent reduction, petrol 13.31 percent reduction, diesel 12.15 percent reduction, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) 2.44 percent reduction. The reduction in the prices of the above items has combined impact of 1.74 into the overall SPI for combined income groups of 1.25 percent.
The PBS data released here on Friday said that the SPI on year-on-year (YoY) basis during (March 28, 2019 to March 26, 2020) witnessed an increase of 11.88 percent from 114.52 points to 128.10 points.
The SPI for the monthly income group up to Rs17,732 registered a decline of 0.22 percent from 133.69 points to 133.39 points on WoW basis and on YoY basis, it recorded an increase of 12.52 percent from 118.55 points to 133.39 points.
For the income group with monthly income of Rs17,732-22,888, weekly inflation registered a reduction of 0.51 percent from 128.64 points to 127.98 points, while on annual basis, it witnessed an increase of 11.53 percent from 114.75 points to 127.98 points.
For the monthly income group of Rs22,889-29,517, the SPI went down by 0.71 percent from 131.11 points to 130.18 points, while on annual basis, it went up by 15.18 percent from 113.02 points to 130.18 points.
Weekly inflation for the income group with monthly income of Rs29,518-44,175 went down by one percent from 128.46 points to 127.18 points, while on annual basis, the SPI for the above income group went up by 14.67 percent from 110.91 points to 127.18 points.
For the income group of Rs44,175 or above monthly income groups, weekly inflation registered a decline of 0.1.66 percent from 131.67 points to 129.49 points, and on annual basis, the SPI for the above income group went up by 11.09 percent, from 116.56 points to 129.49 points.
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 19 items increased, which is 37.25 percent of the total, while prices of five witnessed a reduction, which is 9.80 of the basket items, and prices of 27 items remained unchanged, which is 52.94 of the basket.
During the week under review, prices of the following items witnessed an increase: Eggs price went up by 22 percent, gram pulse by 3.70 percent, moong pulse by 3.56 percent, masoor pulse by 2.96 percent, wheat flour by 2.89 percent, garlic by 2.59 percent, onions by 2.46 percent, bananas by 2.21 percent, mash pulse by 1.86 percent, plain bread by 1.70 percent, and tomatoes by 1.45 percent.
On YoY basis prices of following items witnessed an increase: Potatoes by 113.53 percent, onions 94.19 percent, garlic 90.04 percent, moong pulse by 70.93 percent, mash pulse by 52.52 percent, cigarettes by 36.81 percent, vegetable ghee 1kg pack by 35.97 percent, eggs 35.05 percent, sugar by 33.36 percent, vegetable ghee 2.5kg pack by 31.94 percent, gur by 30.54 percent, cooking oil 5kg pack by 27.17 percent, gram pulse by 24.06 percent, LPG by 23.96 percent, masoor pulse by 21 percent, long cloth 19.71 percent, cooked beef by 18.54 percent, shirting 17.90 percent, wheat flour by 15.96 percent, plain bread by 15.39 percent, and powdered Milk Nido by 15.31 percent.
On YoY basis, significant reduction in the prices of following items was observed: tomatoes by 33.10 percent, chicken by 25.57 percent, electricity for Q1 by 13.15 percent, and Hi-Speed Diesel by 3.67 percent.