ISLAMABAD: Inflation for the combined income group dropped by a meagre 0.01 per cent for the week ending on October 25 as compared to the previous week, mainly due to decline in prices of perishable products.
The weekly inflation measured through the sensitive price index (SPI) went down after posting upward trend for five consecutive weeks, according to data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
SPI monitors prices of 53 items based on a survey of 17 cities and 53 markets. During the week under review, prices of 20 items increased and those of 07 items decreased whereas those of 26 remained unchanged.
The impact of prices on various income groups also witnessed variations. For the lowest income group (earning up to Rs8,000 a month), SPI posted no changes over the previous week, while inflation for the top income group (earning Rs35, 000 and above) was declined by 0.01pc.
On a year-on-year basis, SPI for combined group in the week registered an uptick of 5.82pc.
The food items whose prices rose include: potatoes 4.64pc, salt 2.4pc, wheat 2.16pc, garlic 1.72pc, egg 1.48pc, bananas 1.3pc, chicken 1pc, red chilli powder 0.66pc, cooked daal 0.48pc, sugar 0.46pc, powered milk 0.38pc, cooked beef 0.25pc, beef with bone 0.2pc, wheat flour 0.16pc, vegetable ghee 0.12pc, cooking oil 0.12pc, pulse mash 0.11pc, vegetable ghee loose 0.06pc, mutton 0.04pc and rice basmati broken 0.03pc.
Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2018
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