Weekly SPI Inflation Up 44.58 percent YoY Due to Higher Commodity Prices

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week ended 25 August 2022 recorded an increase of 1.83 percent due to increase in prices of food and non-food items.

As per the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 44.58 percent, mainly due to increase in prices of tomatoes (178.10 percent), onions (155.14 percent), diesel (108.77 percent), petrol (94.53 percent), pulse masoor (90.74 percent), cooking oil-five liters (70.61 percent), mustard oil (67.58 percent), vegetable ghee-2.5 kg (64.71 percent), vegetable ghee-one kg (63.93 percent), washing soap (63.27 percent), electricity for q1 (63.03 percent), chicken (55.76 percent) and pulse gram (55.07 percent), while a decrease was observed in the prices of chili powder (43.42 percent), sugar (16.90 percent) and gur (1.21 percent).

According to the data, the SPI went up from 216.02 percent during the week ended 18 August 2022 to 219.97 percent during the week under review.

The SPI for the consumption groups up to Rs. 17,732, Rs. 17,733 to Rs. 22,888, Rs. 22,889 to Rs. 29,517, Rs. 29,518 to Rs. 44,175 and for above Rs 44,175 increased by 2.66 percent, 2.44 percent, 2.16 percent, 2 percent and 1.53 percent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 23 (45.10 percent) items increased, seven (13.72 percent) items decreased, while 21 (41.18 percent) items remained stable, says the PBS.

The items, the prices of which increased, included tomatoes (43.09 percent), onions (41.13 percent), potatoes (6.32 percent),  toilet soap-Lifebuoy (3.68 percent), eggs (3.43 percent), cigarettes-Capstan 20’s packet each (2.26 percent), garlic (2.23 percent),  LPG (1.95 percent), powdered milk-Nido 390 gm polybag each (1.53 percent), pulse mash (1.12 percent), chicken (0.91 percent), pulse moong (0.90 percent), Sufi washing soap (0.84 percent), match box (0.75 percent), gur (0.74 percent), firewood-whole 40 kg (0.71 percent), tea-Lipton yellow label (0.64 percent), wheat flour-20 kg bag (0.58 percent), pulse gram (0.35 percent), rice-Irri-6/9 (0.27 percent), rice-Basmati broken (0.14 percent), beef with bone (0.10 percent) and mutton (0.04 percent).

The items which registered a decrease in the prices include pulse masoor (1.18 percent), vegetable ghee-Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1 kg pouch each (1 percent), vegetable ghee-Dalda/Habib 2.5 kg tin each (0.82 percent), bananas (0.61 percent), cooking oil-Dalda or other similar brand (sn), 5 litre tin each (0.51 percent), sugar (0.28 percent) and mustard oil (0.07 percent).

The items, the prices of which remained unchanged, included bread plain (small size), milk fresh, curd, salt powdered (national/shan), chilies powder-National, cooked beef, cooked daal, tea prepared, long cloth-57″ gul ahmed/al karam, shirting (average quality), lawn printed-gul ahmed/al karam, georgette, gents sandal bata pair, gents sponge chappal bata pair, ladies sandal bata pair, electricity charges for q1, gas charges, energy saver, petrol super, hi-speed diesel and telephone call charges.