The weekly inflation, measured by Sensitive price Indicator (SPI), witnessed an increase of 2.89 percent for the combined consumption group during the week ended on February 16, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Friday. The SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 234.77 points as compared to 228.17 points during the past week, according to PBS data. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 38.42 percent.

The weekly SPI with the base year 2015-16 =100 is covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The SPI for the lowest consumption group up to Rs 17,732 witnessed a 2.45 percent decrease and went up to 239.34 points from last week's 233.61 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 2.73 percent, 2.79 percent, 2.88 percent, and 2.94 percent respectively. The items which recorded a decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week (WoW) included tomatoes (14.27%), onions (13.48%), eggs (4.24%), garlic (2.10%) and wheat flour (0.10%).

The items which recorded an increase in their average prices on week-on-week (WoW) basis included cooking oil 5 litre (8.65%), vegetable ghee 1 kg (8.02%), bananas (8.01%), chicken (7.49%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (6.76%), non-food items, petrol (8.82%), diesel (6.49%) and cigarettes (6.18%).On a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, the commodities which recorded a decrease in their average prices included tomatoes (65.30%), electricity for Quarter 1 (7.50%) and chillies powdered (7.42%).

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP