KARACHI: The Consumer Price Index (CPI), during December 2017 witnessed an increase of 4.57 per cent as compared to the same month during 2016,
This was said by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Director Prices Attiq-ur-Rehman in a monthly press briefing held here on Sunday.
He said that Pakistan Bureau of Statistics collected the retail and the wholesale prices and prepared the CPI and WPI on monthly base while the SPI is calculated on weekly basis. Quoting the data about the CPI, he said that the CPI for food and non-alcoholic beverages on yearly basis increased by 4.57 per cent in December 2017 as compared to the same month of last year.
Giving details, he said the inflation witnessed a negative growth of 0.10 per cent in December 2017 as compared to November 2017. He said the CPI inflation during July-December (2017-18) increased by 3.75 per cent as compared to the first half of the fiscal year 2016-17. Regarding Wholesale Price Index (WPI) during the month of December, Attiq-ur-Rehman said it has shown an increase by 0.36 per cent while the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) witnessed a growth of 0.67 per cent.
Similarly, the CPI for non-perishable food items increased to 2.30 per cent, perishable items by 22.94 per cent, clothing and footwear by 3.64 per cent, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels by 4.86 per cent, household equipment maintenance cost by 3.26 per cent, health by 10.92 per cent while the CPI for transport increased by 4.45 per cent.
He said the CPI for communication increased by 1.23 per cent, recreation and culture by 0.59 per cent, education by 12.40 per cent, restaurant and hotel by 6.38 per cent while the CPI for miscellaneous goods and services increased by 6.50 per cent.
Giving details about the change in prices on a yearly basis, he said, the top items which witnessed a decrease in prices in December 2017 included clothing and footwear by 18.10 per cent as compared to December 2016. He said the items that witnessed increase in prices during December 2017 compared to December 2016 included, onions by 130.35 per cent, tomatoes by 29.35 per cent, government university fee by 37.72 per cent, government engineering college fee by 32.47 per cent, government college fee by 23.90 per cent, potatoes by 21.72 per cent, chicken by 21.21 per cent, gas cylinder by 17.04 per cent, petrol by 14.94 per cent, iron bar by 14.16 per cent, diesel by 12.80 per cent and kerosene oil by 13.51 per cent.
PBS Director Prices Attique ur Rehman said the items that witnessed decrease in prices during December included garlic by 45.46 per cent, gram pulse by 28.85 per cent, mash pulse by 27.41 per cent, gram whole by 21.71 per cent, moong pulse by 21.19 per cent, masoor pulse by 20.77 per cent, besan by 20.25 per cent, sugar by 13.45 per cent, cement by 1.28 per cent and wheat by 1.16 per cent.
