USC hikes rice, pulses prices

ISLAMABAD: The prices of rice and pulses have been hiked at the outlets of the state-owned Utility Stores Corporation (USC) by up to Rs20 per kilogram, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The prices of pulses including Daal Channa, Masoor and White Channa were increased by Rs20 per kilogram at the USC outlets across the country.

Moreover, Rs12 per kilogram was hiked on Tota Basmati Rice and Rs10 per kg on Super Basmati Rice.

READ: USC reduces prices of ghee across country

The recent hike will be taken into effect on Friday (tomorrow).

Inflation rises

The weekly inflation, measured by Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), increased by 1.30 per cent on a year-on-year basis for the week ending on August 3, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) official data showed.

The SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 271.56 points as compared to 268.08 points during the past week, according to the PBS data.

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Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 23 items increased, 7 items decreased whereas 21 items registered no change during the week.

The items, which recorded an increase in their average prices on a week-on-week (WoW), included Wheat Flour (131.40%), Cigarettes (109.57%), Gas Charges for Q1 (108.38%), Tea Lipton (97.71%), Rice Basmati Broken (82.86%), Rice Irri-6/9 (72.73%), Tomatoes (67.54%), Chilies Powder (66.74%), Sugar (64.12%), Chicken (60.51%), Gents Sponge Chappal (58.05%), Gur (57.75%) and Potatoes (55.75%).

Meanwhile, decrease is observed in the prices of Onions (37.10%), Electricity for Q1 (18.06%), Pulse Masoor (15.07%) and Vegetable Ghee 1 kg (1.13%).