SPI falls to lowest YoY level
Microfinance banks remained under stress as the asset quality indicators deteriorated along with after-tax losses. photo: file
The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), an inflation gauge, for the week ended April 24, 2025 recorded a historic year-on-year (YoY) decline of 3.52% - the lowest drop ever recorded since data became available. Similarly, it registered a week-on-week (WoW) decrease of 1.92%, signalling continued relief in consumer prices for key commodities.
"The SPI recorded a decrease of 3.52% YoY – the lowest ever since the data was available," wrote Arif Habib Limited (AHL).
The SPI is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movement in essential commodities at short intervals. It comprises 51 essential items whose data is collected from 50 markets across 17 cities. The weekly decline of 1.92% in the inflation rate was primarily driven by a notable reduction in prices of several essential items, including electricity charges for Q1, which fell 19.17%, followed by chicken (11.75%), wheat flour (5.68%), garlic (4.66%), bananas (3.51%), onions (1.93%), Irri-6/9 rice (1.58%), mustard oil (1.10%), LPG (1.09%) and tomatoes (0.76%).
Conversely, certain commodities exhibited an uptick in prices. The most prominent increase was seen in potatoes (6.94%), followed by eggs (0.66%). Additionally, salt powder and cigarettes each rose 0.51%, while minor increases were observed in prices of gur (0.37%), curd (0.18%), pulse masoor (0.09%), long cloth (0.08%), pulse gram (0.07%) and lawn – printed fabric (0.06%).
Out of the 51 items monitored during the week, the prices of 11 items (21.57%) increased, 18 items (35.29%) decreased and 22 items (43.14%) remained unchanged.
On a YoY basis, the SPI showed an overall decline of 3.52%. A significant decrease was noted in prices of onions (69.78%), tomatoes (40.77%), garlic (31.96%), wheat flour (30.70%), electricity charges for Q1 (29.40%), Lipton tea (16.98%), potatoes (16.93%), chilli powder (15.69%), pulse mash (15.62%), petrol (13.24%) and diesel (10.85%).
Meanwhile, the highest increase over the year was observed in ladies' sandals (55.62%), pulse moong (26.85%), powdered milk (23.11%), pulse gram (21.08%), beef (18.64%), sugar (16.14%), vegetable ghee - 2.5 kg (15.45%), vegetable ghee – 1 kg (14.50%), cooked daal (12.77%), firewood (10.49%), printed lawn (10.33%), and georgette fabric (9.90%).
Brokerage house JS Global projected inflation for April 2025 at around 0.3% while Topline put it below 0.5%.