ISLAMABAD: The prices of various food items went down during the week ending on December 16 as compared to the previous week, according to the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here Friday.
According to the data, the food commodities that witnessed decrease in prices on Week-on-Week (WoW) basis included potatoes and tomatoes, the prices of which declined by 15.52 percent and 12.65 percent respectively.
The other food products that witnessed decrease in prices included chicken (5.94%), onions (3.94%), eggs (1.69%), gur (1.34%), sugar (1.29%), chilies powdered (0.57%), beef (0.54%), pulse Moong (0.37%), rice Basmati broken (0.20%), mutton (0.15%) and wheat flour (0.04%).
Among non-food items, the prices of diesel and petrol went down by 3.48% and 3.40% respectively, the data revealed.
On Year-on-Year (YoY) basis, the commodities that witnessed decrease in prices during the week compared to corresponding week of last year included onions (28.72%), pulse Moong (24.87%), chicken (16.09%), tomatoes (14.76%), potatoes (14.58%) and eggs (9.86%).
On the other hand, the items that witnessed increase in prices on WoW basis included pulse Masoor (4.11%), salt (3.70%), pulse Gram (2.08%), bananas (1.69%), mustard oil (1.35%), pulse Mash (1.32%).
Among non-food items, the prices of electricity for Q1 went up by 10.37% and washing soap by 1.23%.
On YoY basis, the commodities that witnessed increase in prices Electricity for Q1 (83.95%), LPG (65.26%), cooking oil 5 litre (60.37%), vegetable ghee 1 Kg (57.56%), vegetable ghee 2.5 Kg (55.62%), mustard oil (55.60%), washing soap (45.75%), petrol (35.42%), chilies powdered (32.24%), pulse Masoor (29.52%) and diesel (26.72%).
During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 17 (33.34%) items increased,15 (29.41%) items decreased and 19 (37.25%) items remained stable.
It is pertinent to mention here that the overall SPI based weekly inflation for the week ended on December 16 witnessed an increase of 0.55 per cent for the combined income group as compared to the previous week.
The SPI for the week under review in the above mentioned group was recorded at 168.16 points against 167.24 points registered in the previous week.
The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 is covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.
The Sensitive Price Indicator for the lowest consumption group up to Rs17,732 witnessed 0.45 percent increase and went up from 176.52 points in last week to 177.32 points during the week under review.
Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs17,732-22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175 increased by 0.98 percent, 0.43 percent, 0.11 percent and 0.30 percent respectively.
