September 23, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 10, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) increased by 0.43 per cent during the week ending September 21, over the previous week, according to the weekly price data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Saturday.

The data indicated that prices of around 14 items recorded an increase trend for all income groups because of an increase in prices of LPG, wheat flour, rice and some other essential products.

The group-wise analysis of behaviour of prices of 53 essential items in 17 towns of Pakistan shows that the SPI witnessed a decrease of 0.71 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively, for households in the two lower income brackets (up to Rs3,000 and Rs3,001-5,000).

For households in the income bracket of Rs5,001-12,000, the increase in the SPI was in the range of 0.59 per cent, while for households in income basket of over Rs12,000, the inflation registered a growth 0.31 per cent over the previous week.

Comparing with the corresponding week last year, the SPI registered an increase of 10.74 per cent during the period under review.

According to data, prices of 14 items went up during the period under review as compared to the previous week.

The price of wheat flour increased by 5.83 per cent to Rs17.07 per kg as against Rs16.13; an increase of 5.30 per cent in wheat, which stood at Rs14.71 per kg during the week under review as against Rs13.97.

The price of eggs increased by 5.27 per cent to Rs46.76 per kg from Rs44.42, LPG cylinder 11 kg 4.68 per cent to Rs621.88 each as against Rs594.08, 2.87 per cent in bananas to Rs32.58 per dozen as against Rs31.67, 1.69 per cent to Rs96.41 per kg of mustard oil from Rs94.81; bread plain mid size 1.60 per cent to Rs17.12 each as against Rs16.85, vegetable ghee loose 1.21pc to Rs88.97 per kg as against Rs87.91, bath soap 1.20 per cent to Rs15.18 per cake as against Rs15.

The price of rice basmati broken increased by 0.84 per cent to Rs32.24 per kg as against Rs31.97, tomatoes 0.73 per cent to Rs28.96 per kg as against Rs28.75, rice irri-6 0.72 per cent to Rs23.65 per kg as against Rs23.48, garlic by 0.21 per cent to Rs52.30 per kg as against Rs52.19 and curd 0.15 per cent to Rs34.48 per kg as against Rs34.43.