Inflation soars to record high of 42.31pc, shares PBS data

ISLAMABAD: The weekly review of the sensitive price index (SPI) on Friday highlighted a record increase in inflation upto 42.31 percent on a year-on-year basis in August, the data shared by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said.

According to the PBS, the SPI for the current week ended on 18th August recorded an increase of 3.35 percent with hike in prices of 25 items.

The report said that the increase was observed in the prices of food items including tomatoes 20.28 percent, chicken 7.57 percent, onions 2.30 percent, powdered milk 2.03 percent, eggs 1.63 percent, pulse moong 1.42 percent and potatoes 1.07 percent.

The non-food items that witnessed increase in prices included electricity 6.83 percent, petrol 2.96 percent and cigarette 1.69 percent.

On the other hand, a decrease was observed in the prices of 11 items including LPG 3.46 percent, vegetable ghee 1.16 percent, garlic 0.94 percent, mustard oil 0.71 percent, pulse masoor 0.42 percent, pulse gram 0.36 percent, vegetable ghee 0.33 percent, cooking oil 0.31 percent, diesel 0.18 percent, firewood whole 0.16 percent and sugar 0.03 percent.

It further said that the prices of 15 items also remained stable during the week.