ISLAMABAD: Inflation measured through Sensitive Price Index (SPI) edged up 0.04 per cent for the week ended on March 3 driven by rising essential food items, data released by the Pakis­tan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Friday.

The SPI increased for the third consecutive week. It posted the highest jump of 1.35pc on Feb 3.

For the lowest income group earning below Rs17,732 per month, the SPI increased by 0.12pc and for the group earning above Rs44,175, it declined by 0.03pc.

This was mainly due to an increase in prices of essential food items including chicken 10.47pc, bananas 7.06pc, vegetable ghee 1 kg 4.08pc, vegetable ghee 2.5 kg 3.69pc, mustard oil 2.98pc, cooking oil 5 liter 2.19pc and powdered milk 1.11pc. The non-food items which saw an increase were LPG 9.45pc and georgette 1.06pc, respectively.

The items whose prices decreased during the week included tomatoes 27.06pc, eggs 7.18pc, diesel 6.43pc, petrol 6.23pc, garlic 3.27pc, pulse moong 0.96pc, pulse masoor 0.69pc, onions 0.40pc, wheat flour 0.35pc, sugar 0.27pc, potatoes 0.20pc, pulse mash 0.16pc and gur 0.10pc.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 20 items increased 11 items decreased and 20 items remained constant.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2022