Weekly SPI rises 0.56% for combined consumption group in first week of October

The weekly inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), recorded an increase of 0.56% for the combined consumption group during the week ending October 2, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 332.17 points, up from 330.32 points in the previous week. Compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group increased by 4.07%.

The weekly SPI, with the base year 2015-16=100, covers 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.

For the lowest consumption group, with weekly expenditures up to Rs17,732, the SPI rose 0.82%, reaching 325.43 points from last week’s 322.77 points. The SPI for other consumption groups increased as follows: Rs17,733–22,888 (+0.76%), Rs22,889–29,517 (+0.61%), Rs29,518–44,175 (+0.57%), and above Rs44,175 (+0.49%).

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 19 items (37.25%) increased, 12 items (23.53%) decreased, and 20 items (39.22%) remained stable.

Major weekly price declines included chicken (-7.96%), bananas (-0.78%), pulse gram (-0.67%), gur (-0.59%), potatoes (-0.43%), LPG (-0.42%), eggs (-0.41%), cooking oil 5-litre (-0.30%), and pulse moong (-0.29%).

Major weekly price increases included tomatoes (+46.44%), petrol (+1.72%), diesel (+1.45%), garlic (+1.41%), onions (+1.22%), chili powder (+0.72%), mutton (+0.59%), beef (+0.41%), vegetable ghee 1kg (+0.22%), curd (+0.19%), lawn printed (+0.17%), and cigarettes (+0.07%).

Year-on-year price changes showed decreases in onions (-44.93%), chicken (-31.08%), garlic (-28.69%), electricity charges for Q1 (-26.26%), pulse gram (-24.24%), pulse mash (-19.11%), tea packets (-17.93%), potatoes (-17.50%), pulse masoor (-4.10%), and LPG (-1.33%).

Conversely, year-on-year increases were observed in tomatoes (+89.81%), ladies’ sandals (+55.62%), sugar (+33.73%), gas charges for Q1 (+29.85%), pulse moong (+15.27%), wheat flour (+13.37%), diesel (+12.57%), beef (+12.48%), gur (+12.15%), firewood (+11.22%), vegetable ghee 1kg (+11.06%), and vegetable ghee 2.5kg (+10.97%).