SPI fell slightly by 0.07%
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), on a month-on-month basis, jumped 3% - the highest monthly reading in the past 13-and-a-half years. Photo: AFP
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the week that ended on December 9 this year registered a slight decrease of 0.07% for the combined income group.
It went down from 167.36 points against the week that ended on December 2, 2021 to 167.24 points in the week under review, according to provisional figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
However, the SPI for the combined income group rose by 18.58% against the corresponding week of the previous year.
The SPI for the lowest income group decreased 0.14% in comparison with the previous week.
The index for the group stood at 176.52 points against 176.77 points in the previous week.
Similarly, the SPI for the consumption groups of Rs17,732-22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175; and above Rs44,175 also decreased by 0.12%, 0.07%, 0.02% and 0.07% respectively.
READ Tarin assures of drop in basic commodities prices
During the week under review, average prices of 19 items in a selected basket of goods increased.
The prices of nine items fell, including tomatoes, chicken, potatoes, sugar and LPG. The rates of remaining 22 goods recorded no change.
The food commodities that contributed to the decline in weekly inflation included tomatoes, the prices of which decreased by 13.37%.
Other commodities that witnessed a decline in prices included chicken (10.59%), potatoes (4.48%), LPG (2.96%), sugar (1.03%), gur (0.51%), wheat flour (0.46%), mustard oil (0.27%) and eggs (0.26%).
On a year-on-year basis, the commodities that witnessed a decrease in prices included onions (31.99%), tomatoes (27.61%), pulse Moong (25.03%), potatoes (17.64%), chicken (12.80%) and eggs (6.28%)
The bureau, in its weekly report, said that commodities that witnessed an increase in prices include bananas (3.34%) pulse Masoor (3.29%), pulse Gram (2.83%), pulse Mash (2.78%), pulse Moong (2.32%), washing soap (2.19%), onions (1.65%) and matchbox (1.17%).
The items that witnessed an increase in prices on year-on year basis included electricity for Q1 (75.32%), LPG (65.43%), cooking oil 5 litre (61.26%), vegetable ghee 1 kg (58.14%), mustard oil (55.29%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (55.25%), washing soap (45.85%), petrol (44.35%), diesel (34.93%), gents sandal (33.37%) and powdered chilies (33.00%).
The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 is covering 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.