ISLAMABAD: The weekly sensitive price indicator (SPI), which gauges inflation on a short-term basis, fell 0.08 per cent for the week ended on Feb 10, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

The decline was mainly driven by a sharp drop in the prices of essential food items and stood in contrast to a 1.35pc increase recorded during the week ended Feb 3.

The indicator decreased by 0.24pc for the lowest income group (people earning below Rs17,732 a month) and by 0.04pc for the highest income group (those earning above Rs44,175 a month).

SPI is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movements of essential commodities at a short interval of time to review the country’s price situation. The indicator comprises 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities.

The essential items whose prices dropped during the week under review included tomatoes 14.86pc, powdered chilli 3.3pc, potatoes 2.92pc, onions 2.66pc, eggs 2.05pc, liquefied petroleum gas 1.49pc, sugar 1.43pc, pulse moong 0.99pc, prepared tea 0.50pc, pulse gram 0.48pc, gur 0.39ppc, pulse maash 0.37pc, wheat flour 0.15pc and pulse masoor 0.13pc.

Food items whose prices increased during the week included garlic 7.03pc, chicken 5.65pc, bananas 3.57pc and salt 1.81pc.

Of all the items, the prices of 16 items increased, 14 items decreased and 21 items remained constant.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2022