The weekly inflation rate, as assessed by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased by 0.17% for the whole consumption group the week that ended on February 9. According to the data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), in the aforementioned category, the SPI for the reviewed week was 228.17 points as opposed to 227.79 points for the previous week. The SPI for the whole consumption group in the week under review increased by 34.83% compared to the similar week the previous year.

For all spending groups, the weekly SPI, with the base year 2015–16 =100, covers 51 necessary products across 17 urban centres. With a 0.06% reduction from the previous week, the SPI for the lowest consumption group up to Rs 17,732 rose to 233.61 points from 233.76 points. Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption group from Rs 17,732-22,888; Rs 22,889-29,517; Rs 29,518-44,175; and above Rs 44,175 witnessed an increase of 0.02%, 0.10%, 0.14% and 0.22% respectively.

Meanwhile, onions are down 9.83%, tomatoes are down 5.40%, eggs are down 3.40%, wheat flour is down 2.71%, and sugar is down 0.31%. On a week-over-week (WoW) basis, the prices of the following commodities decreased: wheat flour 2.71%, sugar 0.31%, tomatoes 5.40%, eggs 3.40%, and onions 9.83%.

The items with rising average costs were potatoes 7.15%, chicken 6.94%, bananas 6.53%, vegetable ghee (1 kg) 5.67%, basmati (broken) rice 3.80%, rice (irri-6/9) 3.64%, vegetable ghee (2.5 kg) 2.71%, cooking oil (5 kg) 2.60%, pulse mash 2.42%, garlic 2.20%, pulse moong 2.20% LPG 3.06%, and cigarettes 2.25%.

On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, tomatoes had a price decline of 57.76%, powdered chillies saw a decrease of 12.43%, and electricity during the first quarter saw a fall of 12.31%. The following commodities had a rise in price on an annual basis: onions 507.98%, chicken 93.21%, diesel 81.41%, eggs 79.19%, rice basmati broken 68.92%, petrol 68.77%, rice irri-6/9 68.26%, pulse moong 66.30%, tea packet 63.92%, bananas 61.88%, pulse gram 56.80%, bread 50.66%, LPG 50.41%, pulse mash 50.25%, and salt powder 46.46%.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk