Weekly inflation drops by 0.29%

• Out of 51 items, prices of 13 (25.49%) items increased.
• Prices of 14 (27.45%) items decreased, as per data.
• Retail prices of refined sugar remain above govt-fixed.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Friday that the combined consumption groups' weekly inflation, as determined by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), dropped by 0.29% over the week ending May 22, The News reported.

The PBS data shows that the SPI for the combined consumption group increased by 1.35% in the week under review compared to the same week previous year.

The weekly SPI includes 51 crucial products for all spending groups and 17 urban centres. The SPI for the lowest consumption category, which is up to Rs17,732, dropped from 300.97 points last week to 300.18 points, a 0.26% fall.

The SPI decreased by 0.27%, 0.26%, 0.28%, and 0.3% for the consumption categories of Rs17,732 to Rs22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175; and above Rs44,175, respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 13 (25.49%) items increased, 14 (27.45%) items decreased and 24 (47.06%) items remained stable. The items, which recorded major decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included chicken (7.26%), onions (5.43%), garlic (2.71%), LPG (2.44%), potatoes (0.95%), mustard oil (0.80%), diesel (0.78%), pulse masoor (0.46%), cooking oil (0.14%), rice irri-6/9 (0.09%), firewood (0.06%), and vegetable ghee and sugar each by 0.05%.

The commodities which recorded major increase in their average prices on a week-on-week basis included tomatoes (12.01%), eggs (8.16%), jaggery (1.5%), bananas (1.0%), pulse moong (0.79%), wheat flour (0.63%), pulse gram (0.39%), powdered milk (0.36%), rice basmati broken (0.34%), pulse mash (0.3%), mutton (0.26%), energy saver (0.21%) and beef (0.12%).

Retail prices of refined sugar remain above the government-notified rate of Rs164 per kg in nearly all major cities across Pakistan, according to the PBS. The official data shows that the average price of sugar across cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Quetta ranged from Rs170 to Rs181 per kg, far exceeding the government’s ceiling price.

In Karachi, the average price was recorded at Rs177.71, with a maximum of Rs180 per kg. Lahore reported an average of Rs173.41, while Islamabad and Rawalpindi reported averages of Rs178.32 and Rs179.59, respectively.

The highest average was noted in Peshawar, where sugar was sold at Rs181.1 per kg, with peak retail prices touching Rs185.

Year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed increase included ladies sandal (55.62%), chicken (45.12%), pulse moong (30.79%), powdered milk (24.01%), bananas (22.43%), sugar (22.12%), eggs (21.52%), pulse gram (20.70%), beef (17.56%), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (13.86%), LPG (13.05%), and vegetable ghee 1kg (12.76%).

The commodities which recorded a decrease in their average prices on year-on-year basis included onions (54.93%), potatoes (30.46%), garlic (29.43%), electricity charges for q1 (29.4%), tea Lipton (17.93%), wheat flour (16.63%), pulse mash (16.03%), tomatoes (14.03%), chillies powder (12.3%), rice IRRI-6/9 (8.5%), pulse masoor (7.64%) and petrol (7.43%).