ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), slowed to 15.34 per cent year-on-year in the week ending August 29 due to a decline in the prices of vegetables and pulses, official data showed on Friday.

It fell by 0.62pc week-on-week.

The inflation declined due to a price drop in key vegetables and last year’s high base effect. According to experts, the government has approved sugar exports, which push up domestic retail prices for consumers. The national average price for sugar is Rs160 per kilogramme.

In March, the decline in SPI came after a consistent 11-week period of inflation above 40pc, which surged from 29pc recorded on November 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 August 2023 before surging past 40pc during the week ending on Nov 16, 2023.

The items whose prices saw the decline week-on-week included chicken (3.02pc), bananas (2.35pc), chillies powder (1.42pc), wheat flour (0.85pc), pulse masoor (0.68pc), bread (0.56pc), pulse mash (0.53pc) and sugar (0.49pc).

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included tomatoes (8.03pc), onions (6.53pc), pulse gram (2.20pc), garlic (1.76pc), potatoes (0.63pc), eggs (0.55pc), LPG (0.51pc), gur and rice basmati broken (0.41pc) each, firewood (0.12pc) and shirting (0.07pc).

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024