Inflation down, albeit fractionally

Prices of 23 essential commodities in SPI basket of 51 items increased, while 13 became cheaper and 15 remained stable

ISLAMABAD:

After weeks of rising trend, the inflationary pressure eased a bit as the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) came down by 0.16% on the weekly basis, with the annual inflation rate, reaching 45.72%, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Friday.

According to the PBS weekly inflation report, during the past week, the prices of 23 essential commodities in the SPI basket of 51 items increased, while 13 became cheaper and 15 remained stable.

The prices of chicken, tea leaves, eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, curd, dal mash, dal mung, beef, mutton, unpacked milk, dry milk, basmati rice, and broken rice have all increased, contributing to the rise in inflation.

On the other hand, the prices of 13 items, onion, garlic, LPG, flour, vegetable ghee, sugar, firewood, lentil dal, gram dal, mustard oil, and petroleum products, fell, balancing out the overall inflation rate. Prices of 21 essential items remained stable.

According to the data, chicken prices rose by 7.51%, jaggery by 2.79%, tea leaves by 4.53%, tea by 1.09%, eggs by 2.29%, tomatoes by 2.11%, energy savers by 2.22%, and yogurt by 1.08%.

The onion prices decreased by 9.04%, garlic by 1.76%, sugar by 1.42%, flour by 1.40%, and lentils by 0.40%. Vegetable ghee prices also dropped by 0.40%, petrol by 0.11%, diesel by 10.38%, LPG by 3.02%, and firewood by 0.89%. Mustard oil fell by 0.48%.

Furthermore, according to the statistics, the annual inflation rates for various income groups also varied. It was 41.67% for those in the income of up to Rs17,732 per month, 45.37% for the group between Rs17,733 and Rs22,888 per month, 44.75% for Rs22,889 to Rs29,517 per month, and 47.09% for more than Rs44,176 per month.