ISLAMABAD: The inflation measured through Sensitive Price Index (SPI) edged up for the 10 consecutive week recording a slight increase of 0.67 per cent for the combined group for the period ended on Sept 2 driven by an uptick in prices of essential food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

For the lowest income group earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI increased by 0.76pc and for the group earning above Rs44,175, it rose by 0.63pc.

This was mainly due to an increase in prices of essential items including chicken 13.17pc, onions 6.64pc, garlic 5.37pc, pulse masoor 4.20pc, eggs 3.23pc, wheat flour 2.39pc, tea prepared 1.72pc and sugar 1.67pc.

The items whose prices decreased during the week included bananas 5.35pc, LPG 2.74pc, tomatoes 1.57pc, pulse moong 1.43pc, diesel 1.32pc, petrol 1.25pc, potatoes 0.55pc and rice basmati broken 0.39pc.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2021