Weekly inflation down %0.92 due to drop in food prices

ISLAMABAD: Weekly inflation for the combined group during the period ended on November 26 recorded a decrease of 0.92 per cent due to a decline in prices of essential food items, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) is calculated on the basis of the prices of 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.

A report compiled by the PBS said the decrease was witnessed mainly due to a drop in prices of food items, including tomatoes, 10.26%; onions, 8.48%; chicken, 8.28%; sugar, 4.78%; mash pulse, 0.73%; moong pulse, 0.49%; masoor pulse, 0.25%; wheat flour bag, 0.20% and potatoes, 0.71%.

On the other hand, an increase was observed in the prices of food items i.e. bananas, up 1.76% and eggs, 1.08% and among non-food items firewood, up 1.04%. During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 11 (21.56%) items increased, 10 (19.62%) items decreased and 30 (58.82%) items remained constant.

The year on year trend depicts an increase of 7.48% with most of the items increased mainly chilies powder (up 86.31%), potatoes (69.19%), eggs (56.99%), chicken (45.14%), sugar (30.92%), match box (24.40%), sufi washing soap (20.79%), pulse moong (18.71%), pulse mash (18.25%), gur (18.18%), long cloth (16.57%), pulse masoor (16.25%), vegetable ghee 1kg (15.99%), bread (15.95%), mustard oil (15.89%) and shirting (15.72%). While a major decrease was observed in the price of tomatoes (down 33.23%), diesel (20.25%), garlic (18.15%), onions (15.89%), petrol (11.75%), electricity for Q1 (8.77%) and LPG (2.40%).