ISLAMABAD: The weekly inflation in Pakistan, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator, witnessed a decrease of 0.36% for the combined consumption group during the week that ended on 30 March, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday.
Data showed that the SPI for the week was recorded at 249.75 points compared to 250.66 points during the previous week.
As compared to the corresponding week of 2022, the SPI witnessed an increase of 45.36%.
The weekly SPI covers seventeen urban centers and 51 essential goods for all expenditure groups.
The SPI for the lowest consumption group, up to 17,732 rupees, witnessed a 0.42% decrease and decreased to 256.53 points from last week’s 257.62 points.
During the week, out of 51 items, rates of 23 (45.10%) items increased, 11 (21.57%) items decreased, and 17 (33.33%) items remained stable.
The goods which recorded a dip in their average prices on a week-on-week included onions (15.10 percent), chicken (11.96percent), tomatoes (10.26%), cooking oil 5 litres (1.24%), vegetable ghee 1 kg (1.07%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.77%), pulse gram (0.42%), pulse moong (0.22%) and mustard oil (0.17%), non-food items, LPG (1.35%) and firewood (0.35%).
Surge in inflation
The goods that recorded a surge in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included bananas (7.54%), eggs (7.22%), mutton (2.39%), sugar (2.12%), wheat flour (1.91%), tea Lipton (1.79%), georgette & shirting (1.32%) each, milk fresh (1.12%) and beef (1.02%).
On a year-on-year basis, the commodities which recorded a decrease in their average prices included tomatoes (10.88%) and powdered chilies (9.56%).
The commodities that witnessed an increase in prices on a YOY included cigarettes (165.88%), onions (127.07%), wheat flour (123.22%), gas charges for Q1 (108.38%), diesel (102.84%), tea lipton (98.08%), eggs (96.67%), bananas (94.89%), rice basmati broken (83.65%), petrol (81.17%), rice irri-6/9 (79.17%), pulse moong (67.85%) and potatoes (56.44%).
