14 March 2004	Sunday	22 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, Mar 13: Sensitive Price Indicator moved up further by 0.65 per cent during the week ending March 11, over the previous week, according to the weekly review of prices issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Saturday.

At the end of the week, the index stood at 114.85, denoting an increase of 6.49pc over the corresponding period of previous year.

The movement in prices of essential items was particularly harsh for the low income households with monthly incomes up to Rs3,000 - 0.86pc mainly because of the price hike of basic needs such as wheat flour, fresh milk, and numerous vegetables.

The lowest increase of 0.51pc was recorded in respect of the group with incomes above Rs12,000 per month. For the middle level households in the income bracket Rs3,001-5,000 and Rs5,001-12,000, it jumped by 0.84pc and 0.74pc, respectively.

The increasing burden on low income households is brought home further by the commodity-wise analysis of movement in SPI. It shows that foodstuffs are particular target of the unremitting rise in cost of living.

The food group underwent an increase of 0.89pc for all the income groups put together and of 1.12pc for the lowest income groups in the FBS categorization. The contribution to SPI by the non-food group was 0.06pc. The group, "transport & communication", accounted for 0.3pc rise in SPI.

Out of 53 essential items comprising the SPI basket, the prices of as many as 19 items went up during the period under review as compared to previous week, as follows:

Egg (farm) (7.24pc), tomatoes (6.61pc), potatoes (5.82pc), wheat flour average quality (3.22pc), bread plain medium size (2.78pc), wheat (2.57pc), voile printed (1.76pc), vegetable ghee (loose) (1.45pc), rice Irri-6 (1.31pc), lawn (0.86pc), mutton (0.74pc), gram pulse washed (0.53pc), bananas (0.41pc), sugar (0.28pc), shirting (0.25pc), milk fresh and tea (prepared) (0.21pc each), mustard oil (0.14pc) and petrol (0.03pc).

The items which saw some decrease in their prices, numbering eight, were as follows: Chicken farm (-5.34pc), onions (-3.20pc), garlic (-1.14pc), moong pulse washed (-0.44pc), LPG (11 kg cylinder) (-0.37pc), red chilies (powdered) (-0.22pc), mash pulse washed (-0.17pc) and gur (-0.11pc).

CEMENT: The period under review saw a big jump in the prices of cement. Based on the prices prevailing in eight cities of Pakistan, its average price moved up by 1.77pc to Rs230 from previous week's Rs226 per 50 kg bag.

Significantly, its cost reached the record level of Rs242 in one city, that is, Quetta, it pushing the rate of Rs235 down to the much lower level. This was the cost paid by the consumers ofRawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore and Multan.

Elsewhere, a cement bag cost Rs226 in Peshawar, Rs217 in Karachi and Rs215 in Hyderabad.

FERTILIZERS: The prices of only two fertilizers went up during the period under review over the previous week as follows: S.SP. Phosphate (PD) (0.68pc) and T.SP. Phosphate (GR) (0.26pc).

The following six fertilizers underwent some decline in prices: Urea Sona (-0.17pc), Urea Kisan (-0.15pc), Dia Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) (-0.17pc), Nitro Phosphate (-1.67pc), S.SP. Phosphate (GR) (-0.32pc) and C. Ammonium Nitrate (-1.67pc). There was no change in the prices of remaining two fertilizers.