September 29, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 16, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 28: Prices of 17 essential kitchen items, including onions, witnessed an upward trend during the week ending Sept 27 over previous week, according to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Friday.

The prices of these items showed a steady upward trend during last couple of weeks. It showed that the government failed to ensure constant supply of these commodities in the market, besides taking any effective action against hoarders and profiteers. According to the data, prices of 17 items went up. The price of bath soap increased by 8.10pc to Rs16.41 per cake as against Rs15.18; an increase of 2.99pc was seen in LPG cylinder, which stood at Rs640.47 each during the week under review as against Rs621.88.

The price of coarse latha increased by 2.78pc to Rs38.02 per metre from Rs36.99, egg 2.01pc to Rs47.70 per dozen as against Rs46.76, 1.61pc in shirting to Rs70.82 per metre as against Rs69.11, chicken farm 1.47pc to Rs87.59 per kg from Rs86.32; mustard oil 1.33pc to Rs97.69 per kg as against Rs96.41, vegetable ghee loose 1.10pc to Rs89.95 per kg as against Rs88.97, rice basmati broken 0.87pc to Rs32.52 per kg as against Rs32.24.

The price of masoor pulse washed increased by 0.761pc to Rs55.35 per kg as against Rs54.93, washing soap 0.68pc to Rs8.85 per cake as against Rs8.79, voil printed 0.49pc to Rs38.86 per metre as against Rs38.67, gur by 0.46pc to Rs36.89 per kg as against Rs36.72, firewood 0.40pc to Rs206.55 per 40 kg as against Rs205.73, rice irri-6 0.21pc to Rs23.70 per kg as against Rs23.65, 0.12pc in mutton to Rs232.51 per kg as against Rs232.22 and 0.04pc in beef to Rs120.60 per kg as against Rs120.55.

However, the weekly inflation measured through the Sensitive Price Index declined by 0.69pc.

The group-wise analysis of the behaviour of prices of 53 essential items prevailing in 17 towns of Pakistan shows that the SPI witnessed a decrease of 0.87pc and 0.87pc, respectively, for households in the two lower income brackets (up to Rs3,000 and Rs3,001-5,000).

For the households in income brackets Rs5, 001-12,000, the decrease in the SPI was in the range of 0.81pc, while for the households in the income group basket of over Rs12,000, the decrease in inflation was 0.53pc over the previous week.

Comparing with the corresponding week last year, the SPI registered an increase of 10.09pc during the period under review.