ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), slowed to 3.57 per cent year-on-year in the week ending Dec 5 owing to a bearish trend in vegetables and pulses.

The SPI-based inflation decelerated for the past two consecutive weeks. It declined by 0.34pc from the previous week, official data showed on Friday.

The slight downturn on a week-on-week basis is due to a decline in chicken, pulses and basmati rice prices. However, perishable food products such as potatoes, onions and edible oil continued to rise after relative stability.

The government has increased the petrol prices for the last fortnight, which will also impact transportation charges.

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 decline week-on-week included tomatoes (25.15pc), chicken (9.90pc), pulse mash (1.67pc), pulse gram (0.73pc), wheat flour (0.71pc), pulse masoor (0.46pc), rice basmati broken & rice IRRI-6/9 (0.37pc) each and LPG (0.19pc).

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included garlic (1.83pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (1.72pc), potatoes (1.69pc), petrol (1.48pc), sugar (1.33pc), diesel (1.27pc), onions (1.10pc), vegetable ghee 1 kg (1.07pc), cooking oil 5 litre (0.99pc), bananas (0.48pc), firewood (0.14pc) and cigarettes (0.09pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included ladies sandal (75.09pc), pulse gram (65.64pc), pulse moong (37.83pc), powdered milk (25.74pc), beef (23.77pc), tomatoes (17.93pc), garlic (17.44pc), potatoes (17.31pc), Gas Charges for Q1 ( 15.52pc), shirting (15.03pc), cooked daal (15.02pc) and georgette (13.07pc).

In contrast, the prices of wheat flour dropped 35.40pc followed by chillies powder (20pc), diesel (10.77pc), petrol (10.33pc), pulse masoor (9.66pc), rice basmati broken (7.86pc), tea Lipton (7.53pc), chicken (7.34pc), electricity Charges for Q1 (6.96pc), bread (5.99pc) and onions (4.55pc).

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2024