August 10, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 11, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Aug 9: Sensitive Price Indicator slid down by 0.08pc during the week ending August 7, 2003, as compared to previous week.

According to the weekly data issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Saturday, the SPI stood at 108.99 with 2000-01 as the base year.

It declined for the households with monthly income up to Rs3000 by 0.07pc and by 0.8pc for the two income groups Rs3001-5000 and Rs 5001-12000 each. It moved down by 0.06pc for the households in the highest income bracket, above Rs12000.

The slowdown of price spiral was attributable mainly to seasonal factors including the supply position of some vegetables. In all, the prices of 9 items fell during the period under reviews as compared to previous week as follows:

Tomatoes (-17.06pc), potatoes (-1.56pc), gram pulse washed (-1.39pc), moong pulse washed (-1.20pc), red chilies (powdered) (-0.83pc), masoor pulse washed (-0.23pc), LPG (11 kg cylinder) (-0.07pc), sugar and vegetable ghee (loose) (-05pc).

The seasonal factor blunted somewhat the impact of yet another hike in prices of hydrocarbon fuels. Overall, 16 out of 51 essential items in the SPI basket became dearer during the period under review as against previous week as follows:

Onions (4.75pc), kerosene (3.25pc), chicken farm (2.14pc), milk powdered (NIDO) (1.33pc), egg (farm) (1.10pc), garlic (0.65pc), mash pulse washed and diesel (0.60pc each), gur (0.45pc), beef (0.44pc), rice basmati broken (0.32pc), bananas (0.28pc), firewood (0.26pc), wheat flour average quality (0.19pc), wheat (0.11pc) and petrol (0.03pc).

There was no change in prices of 28 essential items as per the price data collected from 17 towns.

CEMENT: The price of cement moved down slightly by 0.12pc during the period under review. The highest price of Rs230 per 50 kg bag was recorded at three places, Islamabad, Lahore and Quetta. At five other major towns, it was selling on average at Rawalpindi (Rs227.50), Multan (Rs225), Peshawar (Rs224.83), Karachi (Rs217) and Hyderabad (Rs210).

FERTILIZER: Mixed picture is presented in respect of chemical fertilizers. Prices of following six fertilizers dropped during the period under review over the previous week: Urea Sona

(0.24pc), Urea Kisan (0.44pc), Dia Ammonia Phosphate (0.5pc), Nitro Phosphate (0.20pc), S.SP. Phosphate (PD) (2.64pc) and T. SP. Phosphate (GR) (2.49pc).

At the same time, three other fertilizers became dearer as follows: Ammonium Sulphate (0.72pc), S.SP.