ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, mea­sured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) continues to rise due to an increase in petroleum prices, official data showed on Friday.

SPI-based inflation saw an increase of 24.36 per cent year-on-year in the week ending on July 18.

It witnessed a 0.76pc week-on-week increase. SPI-based inflation has been continuously rising for the past seven months.

The Finance Act 2024, which imposed sev­eral indirect taxes which are currently being applied as of July 1, has been gradually adding to inflation in recent days as costs of pharmaceutical, stationery and poultry products began to rise following the imposition of sales tax on these items.

SPI sees 24pc year-on-year increase as sales tax adds to prices of food, everyday items

The increase in sales tax and customs duty on the import of fresh vegetables and fruits from Iran and Afghanistan has also contributed to the increase in food inflation.

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 August 2023, before surging past 40pc during the week ending on November 16 2023.

The items whose prices saw the increase week-on-week included chicken (10.26pc), powdered milk (4.56pc), petrol (3.77pc), eggs (2.76pc), potatoes (2.30pc), diesel (2.25pc) and garlic (2.20pc).

The items whose prices decreased the most over the previous week included tomatoes (4.45pc), bananas (2.25pc), onions (0.99pc), pulse masoor (0.19pc) and LPG (0.12pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included gas charges for Q1 (570pc), onions (105.46pc), tomatoes (57.70pc), powdered milk (39.15pc), pulse gram (38.55pc), garlic (36.05pc), chili powder (28.98pc), pulse moong (28.48pc), men’s sandals (25.01pc), shirts (24.97pc), salt (24.61pc), LPG (23.11pc), pulse mash (22.73pc), beef (22.38pc), and electricity charges for Q1 (21.46pc).

In contrast, the prices of wheat flour dropped 31.62pc followed by a 5-litre pack of cooking oil (14.37pc), 2.5 kg pack of vegetable ghee (11.25pc), 1 kg pack of vegetable ghee (10.63pc), mustard oil (8.63pc), eggs (2.99pc), rice basmati broken (2.93pc) and Lipton tea (2.52pc).

The SPI stood at 321.40 compared to 318.96 in the preceding week and 258.45 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 29 items increased, those of 5 items decreased and those of 17 items remained stable compared to the previous week.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024