ISLAMABAD: Inflation based on the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) continued its upward journey for the seventh consecutive week by rising 0.12 per cent for the combined group for the period ended on Aug 5 on the back of an uptick in prices of essential food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

The PBS calculates the SPI based on the prices of 51 essential items from 50 markets across 17 cities of the country.

For the lowest income group earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI declined by 0.10pc and for the group earning above Rs44,175, it recorded an uptick of 0.20pc.

This was mainly due to an increase in prices of essential items including garlic 4.19pc, LPG 3.67pc and petrol 1.44pc.

The items whose prices decreased during the week included tomatoes 18pc, bananas 8.13pc, chicken 3.86pc, eggs 3.53pc, pulse moong 2.11pc, onions 1.37pc, potatoes 0.37pc, pulse mash 0.24pc, rice irri 0.16pc, wheat flour bag 0.10pc and sugar 0.05pc.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2021