ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), decelerated to a six-year low at 4.16 per cent in the week ending Nov 14 owing to the high base effect of last year.

The SPI at this level was last seen in October 2018 after the revision of the base year. However, on a week-on-week basis, the SPI registered a third consecutive increase, witnessing a rise of 0.55pc, official data showed on Friday.

The short-term inflation rate decelerates due to last year’s high base effect and the fall in the prices of pulses and other perishable products. The cost of wheat flour also saw a continuous decline, which impacted short-term 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 Aug 2023 before surging past 40pc during the week ending on Nov 16, 2023.

The items whose prices saw an increase week-on-week included tomatoes (16.86pc), eggs (5.01pc), garlic (4.30pc), LPG (4.10pc), firewood (2.07pc), mustard oil (1.90pc), vegetable ghee 1Kg (1.87pc), sugar (1.34pc), potatoes (1.26pc), georgette (1.18pc), cooked beef (1.11pc) and shirting (0.12pc).

The items whose prices declined the most over the previous week included pulse gram (2.51pc), pulse mash (0.87pc), bananas (0.18pc), chicken (0.07pc) and wheat flour (0.01pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included pulse gram (74.53pc), pulse moong (38.88pc), powdered milk (25.74pc), beef (23.02pc), onions (22.78pc), garlic (17.41pc), gas charges for Q1 ( 15.52pc), shirting (15.22pc), cooked daal (14.78pc), mutton (13.79pc), firewood (13.72pc) and georgette (13.07pc).

The decline was observed in the price of wheat flour (34.98pc), chillies powder (20pc), diesel (13.92pc), petrol (11.64pc), tea Lipton (11.22pc), rice basmati broken (7.89pc), tomatoes (6.59pc), pulse masoor (5.69pc), bread (5.55pc), electricity charges for Q1 (5.07pc) and cooking oil 5 litre (4.86pc).

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2024