Weekly inflation surges 0.74pc on higher food prices

ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) inflation has increased by 0.74 percent in the week ended on November 10 over the last week, driven by a surge in the prices of kitchen items including onions, potatoes, tea, sugar, eggs, chicken and fruit, official data showed on Friday.

SPI inflation increased for the fourth straight week, while it has remained in double digits for most of the current fiscal year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

Essential kitchen items’ prices increased in a short span of one week. Onions price increased by 27.2 percent to Rs182/kg, potatoes 5.3 percent to Rs73/kg, tea 190gm packet 4.6 percent to Rs374, bananas 4.4 percent to Rs101/dozen, sugar 3.6 percent to Rs91/kg, eggs (farm) 2.1 percent to Rs245/dozen, chicken live (farm) 2 percent to Rs274/kg.

Prices of some items decreased during the week including tomatoes prices were reduced 6.4 percent to Rs209/kg, pulse gram 2.02 percent to Rs243/kg, pulse masoor 1.5 percent to Rs264/kg, pulse moong 0.90 percent to Rs247/kg, cooking oil 5 litre 0.89 percent to Rs2770.

The SPI that gauges weekly price movement of mostly kitchen items stood at 29.24 percent in the week under review over the same week a year earlier.

Around 10 weeks ago for the week ending on Sept 1, it peaked at 45.5 percent.

Moreover, for the lowest income slab that earns up to Rs17,732/month, the SPI inflation stood at 26.17 percent, while for the group spending more than 44,175/month, it was recorded at 30.14 percent.

For the week concerned, average prices of 22 items (43.12pc) registered an increase, 14 items (24.45pc) registered a decrease, while prices of 15 items (29.41pc) did not show any change, the SPI bulletin said.

The bureau further reported that year-on-year; onions prices increased 292 percent to Rs182/kg, diesel 64.57 percent to Rs236.3/lite, pulse gram 59.7 percent to Rs234, pulse moong 54.7 percent to Rs247/kg), petrol 54 percent to Rs225.78/liter, gents sponge chappal 52.21 percent to Rs379/pair, bananas 52.2 percent to Rs101/dozen, tea Lipton 50.4 percent to Rs274/190gm packet, washing soap 50.4 percent to Rs103/250gm cakes, pulse mash 49.6 percent to Rs368/kg, cooking oil 5 litre 46.7 percent to Rs2770, vegetable ghee 2.5 Kg 46 percent to Rs1372, and salt powdered & pulse masoor prices increased 45 percent each to Rs44/800gm and Rs264/kg respectively.

Items that witnessed a decrease in prices year-on-year include red chili powder, which declined 42 percent to Rs217/200gm packet, sugar by 8.9 percent to Rs91/kg, gur 7 percent to Rs135/kg, electricity for Q1 also declined by 2.67 percent to Rs6.57/unit and LPG by 0.25 percent to Rs2490/11.6kg cylinder.