Weekly Inflation Nears 34% Due to Costly Vegetable and LPG, Petrol Prices

The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the week ended on March 7, 2024, increased by 1.11 percent due to increase in the prices of onions (33.86 percent), potatoes (23.81 percent), tomatoes (16.42 percent), bananas (7.12 percent), LPG (4.43 percent) and petrol & firewood (1.49 percent) each, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 32.37 percent mainly due to increase in the prices of gas charges for q1 (570 percent), tomatoes (176.55percent), chilies powder (81.74percent), gents sponge chappal (58.05percent), wheat flour (57.04percent), gents sandal (53.37percent), onions (51.56percent), garlic (45.69percent), gur (44.94percent), sugar (41.69percent) and potatoes (39.08percent) while decrease is observed in the prices of vegetable ghee 1 kg (20.15percent), cooking oil 5 litre (19.53percent), bananas (17.95percent), mustard oil (16.20percent), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (16.04percent), LPG (4.20percent), chicken (1.51percent) and cigarettes (0.05percent).

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 14 (27.45 percent) items increased, 14 (27.45 percent) items decreased and 23 (45.10 percent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 322.86 points against 319.30 points registered in the previous week, according to the PBS data released on Friday.

The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs. 17,732, Rs. 17,732-Rs. 22,888, Rs. 22,889-Rs. 29,517, Rs. 29,518-Rs. 44,175 and above Rs. 44,175 increased by 1.69 percent, 1.45 percent, 1.20 percent, 1.15 percent, and 0.99 percent respectively.

The items prices of which increased during the period review include onions (33.86 percent), potatoes (23.81 percent), tomatoes (16.42 percent), bananas (7.12 percent), LPG (4.43 percent), eggs (2.66 percent), petrol super (1.49 percent), firewood whole 40 kg (1.49 percent), beef with bone (1.38 percent), mutton (0.50 percent), cooked daal (0.41 percent), long cloth 57″ gul ahmed/al karam (0.27 percent), mustard oil (0.17 percent) and pulse mash (0.06 percent).

The items’ prices that decreased during the period review include chicken (6.95 percent), tea lipton yellow label (1.29 percent), cooking oil dalda or other similar brands (sn), 5 litre tin each (0.96 percent), bread plain (0.51 percent), gur (0.40 percent), garlic (0.39 percent), pulse masoor (0.26 percent), vegetable ghee dalda/habib or other superior quality 1 kg pouch each (0.23 percent), vegetable ghee dalda/habib 2.5 kg tin each (0.19 percent), pulse gram (0.16 percent), rice basmati broken (0.12 percent), rice irri-6/9 (0.12 percent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (0.06 percent0 and sugar (0.04 percent).