ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), eased to 3.97 per cent year-on-year in the week ending Jan 2 owing to a decline in the prices of perishable kitchen items.

The SPI-based inflation reversed to a modest decline after an increase for three straight weeks.

It declined by 0.26pc week-on-week, according to official data, on Friday.

In the past week, the market had witnessed a notable decline in the prices of essential vegetables, including tomatoes and potatoes, accompanied by a modest reduction in LPG cylinder and electricity costs.

However, the past three weeks also saw a steady increase in the prices of perishable goods, causing concerns among consumers.

Edible oil manufacturers already raised their prices in recent weeks. Similarly, the retail prices of tomatoes increased drastically last week.

The government had slightly increased the petrol and diesel prices in the latest review, which would also impact transportation charges and prices of vegetables and fruits.

The items whose prices saw a decline week-on-week included tomatoes (13.48pc), electricity charges for Q1 (7.48pc), potatoes (5.59pc), pulse gram (0.34pc), eggs (0.23pc), garlic (0.21pc), LPG (0.18pc), wheat flour (0.09pc) and pulse mash (0.05pc).

The items whose prices increased the most over the previous week included chicken (10.28pc), onions (4.93pc), bananas (1.68pc), diesel (1.18pc), pulse moong (1.08pc), sugar (0.95pc), gur (0.58pc), firewood (0.55pc), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.53pc), vegetable ghee 1kg (0.28pc) and petrol (0.21pc).

However, on an annual basis, the items whose prices increased the most included tomatoes (77.84pc), ladies sandal (75.09pc), potatoes (66.63pc), pulse gram (47.53pc), pulse moong (30.73pc), powdered milk (25.62pc), beef (23.94pc), garlic (17.82pc), gas charges for Q1 (15.52pc), cooked daal (15.10pc), shirting (14.36pc) and firewood (13.18pc). In contrast, the prices of wheat flour dropped 36.12pc, followed by onions (29.95pc), chillies powder (20pc), eggs (15.78pc), electricity charges for Q1 (13.92pc), pulse masoor (11.24pc), rice basmati broken (8.42pc), diesel (6.39pc), bread (6.01pc), pulse mash (5.98pc) and petrol (5.45pc).

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 18 items increased, 10 decreased, and those of 23 items remained stable compared to the previous week.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2025