ISLAMABAD: Inflation measured through Sensitive Price Index (SPI) posted an increase of 1.23 per cent for the week ended on Oct 28 driven by a sharp rise in the prices of essential food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

This is the fourth consecutive week that witnessed an upward increase. In Septem­ber, the highest jump of 1.3pc in weekly inflation was recorded.

For those earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI increased by 1.29pc and for the group earning above Rs44,175, it rose by 1.4pc. This was due to an increase in prices of essential items including tomatoes 11.42pc, potatoes 6.05pc, LPG 3.89pc, sugar 3.74pc, eggs 3.16pc, electricity 2.98pc, mustard oil 1.39pc, gur 1.36pc and chic­ken 1.09pc.

The items whose prices decreased during the week included onions 5.49pc, bana­nas 3.51pc, pulse moong 0.80pc and garlic 0.38pc. Also, out of 51 items, prices of 25 items increased, four items decreased and 22 items remained constant.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2021