Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), declined by 0.12% for the week ended on August 01, 2024. This is the first decline in SPI-based inflation in the past five weeks due to a fall in food and energy prices.Â
On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, SPI recorded 18.41% compared to the corresponding week last year.Â
According to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), a decrease was observed in the prices of Electricity Charges for Q1 (15.80%), Bananas (4.87%), Diesel (3.81%), Petrol (2.23%), Wheat Flour (0.98%) and Sugar & Cigarettes (0.21%) each.Â
On the other hand, an increase was observed in the prices of Chicken (5.91%), Eggs (1.58%), Cooked Daal (1.05%), Pulse Gram (0.78%), Cooked Beef (0.53%), Rice Basmati Broken (0.44%), Garlic (0.43%), Onions (0.40%), Shirting (0.09%) and LPG (0.06%).Â
As per PBS data, during the week, out of 51 items, prices of 24 (47.06%) items increased, 7 (13.72%) items decreased and 20 (39.22%) items remained stable.Â
The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 18.41% as Gas Charges for Q1 increased by (570.00%), Onions (86.53%), Pulse Gram (41.78%), Powered Milk (32.32%), Pulse Moong (30.21%), Garlic (27.88%), Shirting (25.09%), Gents Sandal (25.01%), Salt Powder (23.28%), Beef (23.13%), Pulse Mash (21.22%) and Energy Saver (17.96%).Â
While, major decrease was observed in the prices of Wheat Flour (32.28%), Electricity Charges for Q1 (15.46%), Cooking Oil 5 Litre (13.44%), Vegetable Ghee 2.5 Kg (9.99%), Vegetable Ghee 1 Kg (9.21%), Eggs (7.90%), Chili Powder (7.04%), Mustard Oil (6.80%), Rice Basmati Broken (5.68%), Petrol(1.20%) and Diesel (0.16%).Â
It is pertinent to mention here that the SPI is computed on weekly basis to assess the price movement of essential commodities at shorter interval of time to review the price situation in the country. SPI comprises of 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities of the country.Â
