WEB DESK: Sensitive Price Index (SPI) saw a slight increase of 0.07 per cent for the week ending December 12, 2024, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
This rise was primarily driven by higher prices of essential items, including chicken (up by 3.80 per cent), vegetable ghee (up by 2.27 per cent), bananas (up by 1.99 per cent), potatoes (up by 1.93 per cent), mustard oil (up by 1.07 per cent), and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (up by 0.28 per cent).
The report indicates that out of 51 items monitored, 18 items or 35.29 per cent had prices increase, 11 items or 21.57per cent had price decrease and 22 items or 43.14 per cent remained stable during the week.
On a y-o-y basis, SPI-based inflation went up to 3.71 per cent primarily due to large price rises of staple items such as pulse gram up 59.55 per cent, pulse moong up 36.44per cent, potatoes up 36.16per cent, powdered milk up 25.74 per cent, and beef up 23.82 per cent. Other items that also contributed to the increase are tomatoes, up 20.51 per cent, garlic, up 15.97 per cent, gas charges for Q1, up 15.52 per cent, and cooked daal, up 14.85 per cent.
However, there were notable decreases in the prices of certain items, including wheat flour (down by 35.88 per cent), chilies powder (down by 20 per cent), diesel (down by 10.77 per cent), petrol (down by 10.33 per cent), and pulse masoor (down by 10.26 per cent). Other items that saw price reductions include onions (down by 8.92 per cent), rice basmati broken (down by 7.46 per cent), electricity charges for Q1 (down by 6.96 per cent), sugar (down by 6.52 per cent), bread (down by 5.99 per cent), and tea Lipton (down by 5.09 per cent).
It reflects the mixed trend in prices, which are experiencing some volatility concerning the movement of some essential goods rising in prices and others lowering in price.
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