KARACHI, Sept 21: Price movements of individual items included in the CPI food group showed that 46 commodities exhibited inflation in the range of 10 to 130 per cent in August 2006.

The State Bank on Thursday released its ‘Inflation Monitor’ revealing that the items which prices rose by 10 to 130 per cent included fresh milk, beef, sugar, chicken, pulses gram, mash and moong, green chillies, tomatoes, etc.

“The combined weight of these commodities (with double digit inflation) in the food group is about 50 per cent,” said the SBP report.

The consumer price index (CPI) registered a growth of 8.9pc in August which was 13-month high. Last year during the same month it was 8.4pc whereas in first two months (July-Aug) of the current fiscal the inflation recorded a growth of 8.3pc.

The contribution of food group in overall inflation increased significantly to 50pc in August 2006 from 35pc during the last year. The non-food group’s contribution declined accordingly in the month.

The report said that after being recorded at less than 7 per cent on average during FY06, food inflation increased significantly to 11 per cent year-on-year in August 2006, driven mainly by increase in prices of wheat flour, bread, cooking oil and ghee, chicken, eggs and vegetables including onion, tomatoes, and green chillies along with persistent pressure on prices of some pulses.

The SBP said that this sharp increase in actual food inflation in August 2006 also shoved up its long run trend that had earlier been decelerating since May 2005.

The prices of dal mash and moong rose by 65 and 50pc respectively during the month. The demand for pulses is rising despite the fact that the purchasing power of people has been sharply declining for last couple of years. Chicken, beef and mutton have already gone beyond the purchasing power of the majority of middle and lower middle class.

The price of tomato showed the highest increase of more than 130 per cent in August 2006 followed by mango 80pc and chillies 52pc.

“In percentage terms fresh milk and tomatoes were the second and third highest contributors to the overall inflation,” said the report.

The prices have already further gone up during the current month which will bring more horrifying figures of food inflation. This Ramazan-led price hike could continue even after the holy month if short supply of the commodities prevails. There is strong possibility of shortage of pulses due to heavy rain across the county in September.

The report showed that a big number of important non-food items also witnessed double digit inflation during Aug 2006.

“Out Of the 250 non-food commodities included in the CPI basket, 39 commodities witnessed double digit inflation which include gents shoe, house rent, gas cylinder, mattress, fares of different modes of transportation, primary school fee (English medium), gold tezabi, doctor clinic fee, etc.,” said the report.

“The most notable increase was in medicare that registered an increase of 7.9 per cent in August 2006 compared with 1.3 per cent a year earlier,” said the report.

There were 46 commodities that showed moderate inflation in the range of 5 to 10 per cent, it added.