ISLAMABAD: The weekly review of the sensitive price index (SPI) has highlighted a record increase in inflation up to 44.58% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis for the week that ended on August 25, according to data shared by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.
According to the PBS, the SPI for the week under review recorded an increase of 1.83, bringing the YoY inflation to an all-time high. During the week, prices of 23 out of 51 items increased, 7 decreased, while 21 remained stable.
The SPI for the week under review for the combined consumption group was recorded at 219.97 points against 216.02 points registered in the previous week.
The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16=100 covers 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. It may be noted that the SPI for the lowest consumption group up to Rs17,732 witnessed a 2.66% increase and went up from 219.64 points in last week to 225.48 points during the week under review.
The items, which recorded decrease in their average prices on WoW basis included pulse masoor which shows a decrease of 1.18%, vegetable ghee 1kg 1.00%, vegetable ghee 2.5kg 0.82%, bananas 0.61%, cooking oil 5 litre 0.51%, sugar 0.28% and mustard oil 0.07%.
On the other hand, the commodities, which recorded increase in their average prices, tomatoes 43.09%, onions 41.13%, potatoes 6.32%, eggs 3.43%, garlic 2.23%, powdered milk 1.53% and pulse mash 1.12%, non-food items, cigarettes 2.26% and LPG 1.95%.
Commodities that witnessed decrease in prices on a YoY basis include chilies powder for which the price fell 43.42%, sugar 16.90% and gur 1.21% whereas commodities that witnessed an increase in prices included tomatoes that saw a surge of 178.10% in prices, onions 155.14%), diesel 108.77%, petrol 94.53%, pulse masoor 90.74%, cooking oil 5 litre 70.61%, washing soap 63.27%, electricity for Q1 63.03%, chicken 55.76% and pulse gram 55.07%.
