ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation soared to 35.45 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the week ending on October 19, according to official data released on Friday.

Measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), the benchmark saw a sharp rise mainly due to an increase in the prices of essential food items and electricity. The SPI has remained above 30pc for six consecutive weeks.

Last week, the caretaker government made a hefty cut in the prices of petroleum products. The impact of this decline in everyday prices will be visible in coming weeks.

Analysts anticipate a decrease in petroleum prices in the review set for the end of the current month. Despite this, transportation costs persistently remain unaffected by any reductions in petroleum prices due to the absence of a regulatory system.

Short-term inflation dipped 1.7pc from the preceding week, data showed. Of the 51 items in the SPI basket, prices of 14 goods increased while those of 24 dropped. The number of items whose prices remained unchanged compared to the previous week was 13.

During the week under review, the items whose prices increased the most over the same week a year ago were electricity charges for the first quintile (136.89pc), gas charges for the first quintile (108.38pc), cigarettes (94.46pc), chilies powder (84.11pc), rice basmati broken (81.74pc), wheat flour (80.73pc), rice Irri-6/9 (71.43pc), sugar (66.29pc), gur (61.50pc), gents sponge chappal (58.05pc), salt powdered (57.40pc) and tea Lipton (56.27pc).

The biggest increases week-on-week were seen in the prices of eggs (3.44pc), salt powdered (2.63pc), shirting (2.18pc), mutton (1.01pc), beef (0.84pc), cooked beef (0.72pc), georgette (0.52pc), washing soap (0.48pc), tea prepared (0.34pc), cooked daal (0.34pc), potatoes (0.25pc) and firewood whole (0.22pc).

In May, the SPI stayed above 45pc for three weeks after hitting an all-time high of 48.35pc on May 4.

The rupee’s depreciation, rising petrol prices, sales tax and electricity bills are among the key contributors to this inflationary trend.

Meanwhile, on a week-on-week basis, the prices of onions dropped by 8.45pc, chicken 5.46pc, pulse masoor 3.38pc, sugar 3.07pc, garlic 2.24pc, and rice basmati broken 2.17pc.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2023