KARACHI: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), rose 5.19 percent year-on-year in the week ending Feb 19, the statistics bureau said on Friday, reflecting higher prices of perishable food items at the start of Ramadan.
The SPI, which comprises 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities, is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movement of essential commodities at a shorter interval of time to review the price situation in the country.
The SPI for the week ending on Feb. 19 increased by 1.16 percent, the year-on-year trend depicted an increase of 5.19 percent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data.
The development came as the holy fasting month of Ramadan began in the South Asian country on Feb. 19, which often sees an increase of prices of fruit, vegetables and other necessary items.
“During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 17 (33.33%) items increased, 12 (23.53%) items decreased and 22 (43.14%) items remained stable,” the PBS said.
Major increase was observed in the prices of Bananas (16.05%), Electricity Charges for Q1 (15.41%), Garlic (5.86%), Chicken (5.49%), Onions (3.83%), Tomatoes (3.82%), Diesel (2.69%), Petrol (1.93%), Beef (1.03%), LPG (0.75%), Mutton (0.69%) and Long Cloth (0.28%), according to the PBS.
The items whose prices decreased included Eggs (11.78%), Potatoes (2.24%), Wheat Flour (2.02%), Pulse Masoor (1.47%), Sugar (0.96%), Vegetable Ghee 2.5Kg (0.72%), Pulse Gram (0.58%), Cooking Oil 5 Litre (0.19%), Gur (0.16%), Vegetable Ghee 1Kg (0.11%), Rice (0.08%) and Mustard Oil (0.07%).
