Weekly inflation records slight increase

• During the current week, price of tomatoes increase by 7.28%.
• Price of potatoes and onions drop within a range of 2-5%.
• On a year-on-year basis, the SPI inflation records an increase of 19.83%.

The inflation measured through the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) edged up recording a slight increase of 0.40% for the combined group for the week that ended on December 23, driven by an uptick in prices of essential food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the SPI inflation recorded an increase of 19.83% — the highest ever yearly increase since January 2020.

The combined income group index went up from 168.16 points during the week that ended on December 16 to 168.83 points in the week under review.

According to the provisional figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the average prices of 23 essential items, including tomatoes, eggs, pulse masoor, and sugar etc., rose during the outgoing week.

Prices of five items, including potatoes, 200-gram chillies powder, onions, jaggery (g and a bag of wheat flour have declined. Meanwhile, the rates of 23 essential goods remained unchanged.

The bureau, in its weekly report, said that among food items, the tomatoes increased by 7.28%. Meanwhile, the prices of eggs increased by 2.95%.

Among non-food items, the price of men and women's footwear rose within a range of 8-20%, respectively.

During the week under review, the price of potatoes and onions dropped within a range of 2-5%, while the 200-gram chillies power packet decreased by over 4%. Other items that recorded a decline included jaggery and a  bag of wheat flour.

Meanwhile, the price of basmati rice, plain bread, mustard oil, cooking oil, tea, etc. remained unchanged.

The SPI for the lowest income group increased by 0.28% compared to the previous week. The index for the group stood at 177.82 points against 177.32 points in the previous week.