ISLAMABAD: After a six-week break, short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), rebounded 21.40 per cent year on year in the week ending May 30, official data showed on Friday.

It also witnessed a 0.11pc rise week-on-week. The increase was mainly due to a slight increase in the price of tomatoes, onions and pulses. The real impact of the decline in petrol price on essential commodities will be visible in next week’s review.

In March, the decline in SPI came after a consistent 11-week period of inflation above 40pc, which surged from 29pc recorded on Nov 8, 2023. The weekly inflation hit a record 48.35pc year-on-year in early May 2023, but then decelerated as low as 24.4pc in late Aug 2023 before surging past 40pc during the week ending on Nov 16, 2023.

The items whose prices saw the increase week-on-week included tomatoes (11.25pc), onions (3.62pc), pulse mash (2pc), bananas (1.78pc), potatoes (1.23pc), curd (1.17pc), pulse gram (1.04pc), milk fresh (0.56pc), cigarettes (0.52pc), energy saver (0.41pc) and georgette (0.09pc).

The items whose prices decreased the most over the previous week included eggs (6.14pc), chillies powder (5.73pc), LPG (5.40pc), garlic (4.02pc), rice IRRI (2.93pc), wheat flour (1.89pc), rice basmati broken (1.49pc), pulse moong & firewood (0.51pc) each and mustard oil (0.20pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included gas charges for Q1 (570pc), onions (81.78pc), chillies powder (59.98pc), tomatoes (52.54pc), garlic (47.83pc), salt powder (31.30pc), shirting (30.39pc), gents sandal (25.01pc), pulse mash (23.93pc), beef (22.55pc), energy saver (20.38pc) and sugar (19.89pc).

In contrast, the prices of bananas dropped 34.58pc followed by wheat flour (29.26pc), chicken (25.40pc), cooking oil 5 Litre (17.72pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 Kg (15.12pc), vegetable ghee 1 Kg (14.47pc), LPG (11.79pc), mustard oil (11.27pc) and eggs (11.01pc).

The SPI stood at 308.52 compared to 308.19 the preceding week and 254.13 a year ago.

The index, comprising 51 items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities, is computed weekly to assess the prices of essential commodities and services at shorter intervals.

Data showed that the prices of 14 items increased, those of 14 items decreased and those of 23 items remained stable compared to the previous week.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2024